Rachel's Song
by toledo girl
Summary: Upset and curious, Rachel runs away from home, and lands into more trouble than she had ever imagined. House hears about the situation and decides to help Cuddy find her and bring her home.
1. Prolouge

Prologue

There she sat, her back against the wall of the empty hallway. She had felt like crying, but she was in too much shock to even begin to remember how to.

It was easy for her to naturally know that it was past her bedtime by the pure exhaustion that had over come her body. Yawning, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The only thing that had kept her from falling asleep, was the guilt that was eating away at her.

Her name was Rachel. Now, at the age of ten, she was on the shorter side, had soft light brown hair, green eyes. There always seemed to be a smile on her face, well, there was up until the last few days. The last few days for her were cold, tiring, and scary. That was nothing to smile about.

The little girl looked up and saw the person standing before her. "I'm sorry," she said as the tears finally began to fall from her eyes. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

Rachel then just stared off into the distance. Down the hallway, but nothing really in particular. Just any object, as her glazed over eyes stopped on the doors and her thoughts drifted back to everything that had happened over the last week. "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt at all," she softly repeated to herself.

**Okay, tell me what you think. Let me know if I should continue or not. Just an idea that I thought about during class today, lol, my mind tends to wander in fourth period. **


	2. Family History

Chapter 1: Family History

Rachel sat in her room. It was about time for her mother to finally get home. Every night was beginning to become the same to her. Her mother would say that she would be home at a certain time, but that was never the case. There was always that one meeting, or that one last agreement or that one doctor that she often called an ass under her breath who kept her late. There was always something.

She loved her mother, she just never got to see too much of her. She had breakfast with her and then would say good night to her, and that was about it. There were times where she would go to work with her mother on her days off of school, but even when she did go, her mother would be busy most of the day. When ever she did go, it almost seemed like she spent more time going from office to office. She knew both Wilson's and House's offices very well.

She knew that most of the time she was welcomed in Wilson's office. He would let her stay there if her mom had a meeting or had to go with a patient or something, if he didn't have one of his own patients in with him. Sometimes she would just go in there and work on school work, and other times she would try to find out more about her mother. That was something that no one really told her anything about. He would always tell her about how she was at work, and how much she cared about her, but what she wanted to know was about her father.

House was the other one from whom she would try to gather information. There was something about him that often interested her. He never seemed to be likable, but he was straight forward, well, with everything else he was, but not with what she wanted to know. He would tell her that if her mother had any sense of reality that she would suck it up and tell her the truth, then tell her that he has work to do.

Anyways, that was all about to change. Today at school, Rachel found out that she has to do a report on her family tree. Now her mother would have to tell her.

"I'm home," Cuddy announced as she closed the door behind her.

Rachel jumped up and ran out of her room. She stopped before her mother and hugged her. "Hi mom," she greeted and then stood back and smiled.

"Hey sweetie. Sorry I'm late, I got held up in traffic." Cuddy walked over to the closet and put her things away and then turned to go into the kitchen. "What did you and Annie have for dinner?"

Annie was the current nanny. She was young, about mid twenties. She was full of energy and a nice person, but, just like the other couple of nannies that she has had, they were no replacement for her mother. "We had grilled cheese sandwiches and soup," Rachel answered.

Cuddy grabbed a salad out of the fridge and went and sat down at the table. "How was your day?"

Rachel smiled as she went and sat down across from her. "It was good, but I'm going to need to ask you some questions for a report that's due in a couple weeks," Rachel said.

Cuddy looked up. "Okay." She put her food off to the side. "What do you need to know?"

"Well," Rachel went and got her notebook and pen and then sat back down. "It's a report on our family history," she happily explained.

"Oh?" This sparked some interest in Cuddy. The only thing that bothered her was that she knew the questions she was going to get, the ones that she had avoided answering for so long. "Okay, let's hear the first question."

"Okay, where were you born?" Rachel asked.

"New York city." That was a lot better than the questions she thought she was going to get, but then again, she knew that Rachel would take her time and lead up to it.

"Okay," Rachel then looked up to see how her mom was. She would notice if she look suspicious or nervous, but she didn't seem to be. Why not ask now? "Where did you meet my daddy?"

That was the last thing she wanted to hear. Right now Cuddy didn't think that Rachel was old enough to hear the truth. She didn't know if she could handle finding out that her parents gave her up, or even understand the circumstances. "At a school," she simply answered staying as close to the truth as she could. Her real father was in school at the time.

"What school?" Rachel eagerly asked. She could tell that she was getting closer and closer to the truth.

Cuddy just went with the first thing that came to mind. "Michigan State, that's where we both went to college." Where that came from, she really didn't know, but Rachel didn't know, so it made no difference.

"Is he a doctor to?" She was starting to get excited.

"Yes," she didn't want to get too far into detail.

Now it was time for the big question. The one that she had been wondering about for a long time. "What is my father's name?"

Cuddy started to panic. She could have made up a name, but only one name came to her mind at the moment, so that was all she could blurt out. "Gregory House." After the words came out, she mentally kicked herself.

Rachel's eyes widened. "You mean that doctor you keep calling an ass?" she asked with way too much excitement. "He's alive!? He's in the same town? Same area?" The little girl jumped up from her seat and rushed over to Cuddy and tightly hugged her. "Thank you mommy!" She then pulled away. "See? That wasn't so hard to tell me now was it?"

Cuddy just blankly stared down at her and stroked her hair. There was no turning back now, at least not for a few years. "Okay honey, but you gotta promise mommy that you'll keep this conversation between the two of us, okay? No one should know that you know."

"Why?" Rachel didn't see what the big deal was. Every one else had a father, why couldn't she?

"Well, he wanted to tell you on your thirteenth birthday. That was going to be his gift to you," she quickly lied.

"Oh, okay," Rachel said and then ran to her room.

"Oh God, what have I done?" Cuddy asked as she covered her face with her face.


	3. Truth

Chapter 2: Truth

Today was Saturday, one of the days that Rachel went into work with her mommy. She sat there at the table in the corner of the room. All there was for her to do was color, but she had already colored three pages worth of pictures, and that was more than she liked. "Can I have a puppy?" she randomly asked. If anything, it would at least give the two something to talk about.

Cuddy slowly lifted her head up from her paperwork. "What brought that up?" she asked.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know, just wanted a puppy." As simple as that.

Cuddy sighed. "If you haven't noticed, we're in New Jersey, not the best place to own a dog." She went back to her paper work and the room went back to silence.

The silence was finally broken again when the door slammed open. Rachel looked up in excitement as she saw House walk in. "Oh Cuddles, I need a favor of you," he announced as he casually strolled into the room.

"What ever it is, I'm sure I'll have to say no. Something in the tone of your voice tells me that this is more experimental for your own entertainment than for diagnostic reasons," she said as she set her paperwork aside.

"I need you to sign this," he held the paper up before her.

"What is it?" Cuddy asked.

"Sign it, then I'll tell you," he said.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and snatched the paper from his hands. "A nerve biopsy huh?" she looked up from the paper in her hand. "Tell me, why does this person need a nerve biopsy?"

"Well Cuddy, he has heart issues. The timer is shot, I think it has something to do with the impulses that the brain is sending." He stood there and leaned on his cane as he awaited his answer.

"I think that sounds good," Rachel said.

"Smart kid," House commented and then turned his attention back to Cuddy.

"Are you sure that you checked everything? I mean everything? Not just the bare minimal?" Cuddy asked.

"I haven't checked his wallet yet if that's where you're going with this," he started to pace as she went to reread over the form. "Come on, you know what it says already, and with the rate this guy is going I'm going to have to go restart his heart again in a few minutes so it would really be helpful if you could just speed this up."

"I could just say no," she said.

"Or, you could do the smart thing and just sign the papers so that I can do my job," he argued.

"Fine, but if you paralyze him for no reason, you're paying for everything that he sues us for." Cuddy signed the paper and handed it back to House. "Be careful."

"Look who you're talking to, words can hurt," he mocked and then started for the door.

"Bye Daddy," Rachel slipped. She caught herself when Cuddy glared to her. "Sorry mommy," she weakly apologized.

House stopped and slowly turned to Cuddy. "Geeze, how desperate are you to get a date?" he asked and then left.

Rachel just watched for a minute. He left. He left without saying anything to her, now her feelings were starting to get hurt. "Why didn't daddy say hi to me?" she asked.

"Honey, I'm about to tell you another secret that you don't have to keep so secret because everyone already knows, your daddy's a jerk," Cuddy stated and then went back to work. That right there wasn't much of a lie. She could remember back to when Rachel's real mother was in the hospital how he was. That was probably one of the most truthful things that she had told Rachel about her family so far.

Rachel just went back to her coloring in the quiet room. It only lasted long enough to get a couple pictures done. "Mommy? Can I please go to Wilson's office?" she asked.

"Sure," Cuddy said. "Just make sure that he doesn't have a patient in there with him."

"Thanks." Rachel walked out and went up to the floor, but instead of going to Wilson's office, she headed straight for House's. His team was in there talking about something as he pointed to random words that he had written up on the whiteboard. She knew better than to go in there while he was talking to them. One of the first things taught to her when she started coming to the hospital was that she had to let the doctors focus on the patients before anything.

Instead of just waiting there, she walked down the hallway for a few minutes, and as soon as she saw people filing out of the conference room, she rushed over to his office. Without knocking on the door, because she figured he wouldn't care since he never knocks before entering a room.

House raised his eyebrows and looked up. "Oh look, Rosemary's baby's here."

"What?" she stopped in the middle of her tracks.

"Never mind," he said and then propped his feet up on the desk. "Shouldn't you be with your mommy?" He was too busy looking through files to baby-sit.

"Shouldn't you be with your daughter?" Rachel asked as she approached the desk.

House took his feet off the desk and sat up. He curiously looked over at the little girl. "Are you trying to tell me something? Cus if you are, I think its time you get to the point already."

"You're my daddy," she cheerfully announced.

"Says…..?" he motioned for her to continue his statement.

"My mommy," she answered starting to worry.

"I see," he stood up. "I think you're mother needs to get back in touch with reality sometime soon."

"What do you mean?" Rachel started to follow him as he grabbed his cane and went for the door.

"Well, first off I'm not your daddy," he started.

Rachel froze right then and there. "What?" Her eyes full of fear.

"Go ask your mommy. I've got some answers to go find," he said as he left her in the hallway.

Rachel got back downstairs and ran to her mother's office. "Why did you lie to me about my daddy?"

Cuddy jumped and looked up. "What makes you think that?"

"House told me that he's not my daddy. You lied to me," Rachel said. Her eyes started to water. "Don't you want me to have a daddy?"

"Oh, Rachel, you know that's not why," she stood up and went over and knelt down next to her daughter.

"Then why won't you just tell me who my daddy is? I won't hate him, I promise." The little girl held up her hand as she said promise and then awaited a response from her mother.

Cuddy sighed and looked down. "Well, promise you won't hate me after this." Cuddy looked up and saw Rachel nod. "You're adopted. I was never married, and you're parents are gone, I'm not sure where your dad is, but your mother died."

Rachel just stared at her. It looked as if her entire world had crashed down around her.


	4. Learning the Truth

Chapter 4: Learning the Truth

Rachel and Cuddy sat at the kitchen table. The entire night had been silent, all except for Cuddy's failed attempts to try and start any sort of conversation with Rachel. Ever since she had told Rachel that she was adopted, she had looked as if she had been betrayed. Cuddy just sighed as she leaned forward, she had decided that all the small talk was over, now she had to do what she was afraid to do, tell her about her parents. Other than truly believing that she should have waited a couple of years to tell Rachel, there was also a fear of losing her because of it. Ever since she had brought Rachel home, she knew that someday she would find out about the adoption, and along with that, she would look into her real parent's lives, while slowly moving away from her. It wasn't that she didn't want Rachel to know about her birth parents, it was just that she didn't want her to completely disconnect from her. "Rachel, I know you're mad at me and I know you're confused." She took a minute to examine the child's face. Rachel just stared to her mother with interest. "But, if there is anything you want to know, I promise to answer honestly, and you can believe that because there is no real reason to lie now."

Rachel, without any hesitance asked her first question. "Did you actually know my mom?"

Cuddy nodded as she thought back to when she had met her. "Yes, she was one of doctor House's patients and I helped out with the case." She knew that naturally, the next question was going to be about what she was like, so she went on to talk about her. "I remember her name was Natalie, and that she was still in high school at the time she had you, which later you will learn isn't a good thing. I don't know very much about her, but I can tell you that she was nice, and that she was never out to hurt others. If anything she wanted to make friends."

Rachel leaned forward and propped her head up on her hands. "How did she die?" Even though there was a part of her that really didn't want to know, she was curious and this was her chance.

Cuddy had to stop and think for a minute. The last thing that she wanted to do was tell a little girl that her mom died from a disease that she got while pregnant and have Rachel think that she had a part in her mother's death. "Well, while she was pregnant, she got sick," she started. "And then after you were born, she just got worse."

Rachel thought for a moment before asking anything else. She had to take a minute and process everything that she had just heard. "What about my dad?"

Cuddy shrugged. "All I know about him is that he was in the same grade as your mom. I actually didn't really talk to him."

"Oh," Rachel said as she stared off. She then slowly looked back up at Cuddy. "Why did you adopt me?"

Cuddy hesitated for a moment as the memories of her attempts of having a child and the adoption that fell through came flooding back. "I wanted a baby more than anything in my life, and after Natalie had died, her family was having a hard time and couldn't take care of a baby, and since they were going to put you up for adoption anyways, I asked if I could and everything went fine with the adoption and I got you."

Rachel sat there a moment before standing up. "Thank you," she said. "I'm going to go take my bath now." Leaving the room, she heard her mom respond, but really didn't pay attention to what she had said. Instead, the only thought on her mind was that her family, her real family didn't want her.

* * *

Cuddy sat on the couch with papers sprawled out before her on the coffee table. She tried her hardest, but she could not concentrate on her work. The only thing on her mind was Rachel. She was starting to get worried since she had not heard from her in about two hours. She finally decided to stop and look up at the clock. "I better go tuck her into bed," she said to herself as she stood up.

Cuddy walked down the hall and opened the slightly cracked door. "I just wanted to say good night," she said as she walked in and saw Rachel sitting in bed with her journal before her.

Rachel looked up and started to ask something, but stopped and hesitated before actually going through with it. "Mommy? Why do you spend so much time at work?"

Cuddy had gotten the question before, so she wasn't completely surprised. "I run a hospital, it's a lot of work. If I'm not there and something goes wrong," more or less House does something completely insane she thought to herself. "I get in trouble and then a lot of bad things happen. It's just my job, and trust me, I spent a lot more time there before I had you to take care of."

"Do you like being at work?" Rachel asked.

Cuddy softly laughed as she walked over and sat on the edge of Rachel's bed. "What brought on this line questioning? You know that I would rather stay here with you."

Rachel looked down and sighed. "My real family didn't want me, I just figured that there was something wrong with me, and if there was, why would you want me?" The little girl raised her head and looked to Cuddy with tears in her eyes.

"Honey," Cuddy said as she pulled her daughter in for a hug. "You know that's not true," she said as she rubber her back. She pulled back as she kept her hand on her back. "You're real family was having a hard time, they knew that they couldn't take care of a baby correctly and did what they thought was best for you because they love you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you."

Rachel just wiped her face. "I love you mommy."

"I love you to," Cuddy said and then kissed her forehead. "And never doubt it."

Rachel just smiled as Cuddy wished her good night and left the room. She waited until she was alone before she got up and grabbed all the money that she had leftover from any events and counted it out, twenty five dollars. She shoved it into a pink purse that she had and then set it down next to the bed. Next, she grabbed her journal and pulled out a blank piece of paper.

_Dear Mom, _

_I do not belong here. I was unwanted by my family, the very ones that are supposed to love you no matter what you do. I believe that you do love me, but if they don't, why should you? You have done a lot for me, but now I need to go and find my dad and find out why he didn't want me. Don't worry about me. _

Rachel tried her hardest to dry the tears, but couldn't as she laid the paper down on the table next to her. "Now all I have to do is wait until she's asleep."


	5. Missing

-1Chapter 4: Missing

Rachel had her bag and her coat. She had stopped down into her mother's little work area and looked through some files and stuff until she had found her birth certificate. Now, all she had were her belongings, the names of her parents, and herself.

After she had everything, there was one final stop that she had to make, and that was at her mother's room. The door was cracked open, so she carefully and lightly pushed it open. Keeping as quiet as she could, she walked over to the bed and stood at the side that Cuddy was facing. She leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you mommy."

Cuddy stirred a bit and let out a small mumble, but she didn't awaken. She softly smiled and then turned to leave the room, closing the door behind her.

The first place she wanted to stop at was the library. There, she figured that she could maybe find out where her father lived. If he lived anywhere in walking distance, which she hoped he did, she would go and see him. Then there was that chance that he lived far away, in which she could take the address and write to him. Either way, she got to have some contact with her father.

The only real problem came when she had to figure out where to stay. She had left the note for her mother explaining why she had left. Maybe if he just wasn't able to have her, she could return home without feeling guilty about it, but if he still doesn't want her, then she didn't know where she would go.

"Oh no," she said standing before the library. It was closed. Sighing in disappointment, she turned and saw the coffee shop that was still open. It was warm and a place to sit down, how could she turn it down. Walking in, she saw a few people there, but it was still quiet. She took her seat in a booth by the window, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

***************

It was the next morning, and Cuddy had heard the obnoxious ringing of her alarm. She hated that thing more than ever as she pulled herself out of bed. The night had been spent with odd dreams of Rachel getting kidnapped and abused. The man that she was seeing somewhat resembled her real father, which was even more disturbing to her. Letting out a sigh, she made her way to the bathroom and got her shower and got ready for the day. Once she left her room, she looked around and noticed how quiet it was. Usually she had seen Rachel by now, and was starting to get worried.

"I hope she's still not upset about last night," she said to herself and then walked over to the closed door. "Rachel honey?" Getting no response, she leaned against the door and folded her arms. Rachel didn't have to be up early today, it was just weird to her since Rachel was usually the one to come and get her when the alarm went off.

After a couple minutes, the images of her dreams from the past night started to flood her head. They were starting to make her nauseous.

With her suspicions growing, she opened the door. The bed was empty. Without any hesitation, she rushed out of the room and down the hall. "Rachel!" she nervously called out. There was still some small hope that she was in the living room or kitchen and just wasn't talking to her or something like that, but that hope soon vanished. She wasn't anywhere within those walls. Upon that discovery, Cuddy quickly made her way back to Rachel's room and found the note beside the bed.

"Oh my god," she said as she picked up the note and read it over. The words written by her own daughter had felt like a kick to the stomach. With tears forming in her eyes, she quickly put the note back and wiped her eyes. She scolded herself for even thinking about taking the time to cry when she should be going out to find Rachel. With that thought, she rushed out of the room and left the house.

******************

Rachel woke up in the booth where she had fallen asleep the night before. It took her a minute, but she had finally remembered everything that had happened last night and why she was there. Without any hesitation, she got up and started to head for the door.

To her surprise, and dismay, the library was still closed. She hadn't thought about it being Sunday. Disappointed, she turned and walked back into the coffee shop and sat down. There was no where to go now until the next day.

She had thought that being out on her own would be fun, but this wasn't fun at all, she was starting to feel lonely and scared. "No," she said to herself. She wasn't going to give up now, so she got back outside and started walking to a book store that she had known of. At least there she could try and find some sort of address book or something.

She had gotten there, but there was no luck. She finally had decided to just sit and wait until the next day, when the library was open. At least at the book store she could keep herself entertained. There were books and games there. She took what ever she had like and taken them back to a sitting area.

In the middle of one of her books, a worker came over and stood before her. "Why aren't you the little reader," she said.

Rachel just looked up from her book and nodded.

"Shouldn't you be with your mommy or daddy though?" she asked all too cheerfully.

Rachel just smiled. "She's shopping next door at the clothes store and told me I could stay here until she got done." It was lying, and she knew how wrong that was, but this was something that she needed to do.

"Okay," the worker said as she sighed.

Once the worker left, she went back to reading. The only worry she had now was that the lady would notice how long she was there.

******************

Cuddy drove through the neighborhood keeping her eyes open, but no luck there. She had decided to call everyone that Rachel knew to see if she was with them, and of course, that to had failed.

As she drove down the random streets, there were only two people left on her calling list, Wilson and House. The hard one to call would have been House, so she called Wilson first. That was an easy call, she had asked him if he had seen Rachel, the only hard part was hearing no.

Now, she had to call House. His number was on speed dial, so all she had to do was press one number. The phone only rang a couple times before she heard the gruff voice. "Yeah?"

"House? It's Cuddy," she started.

"Miss party pants feeling lonely?" he asked in his usual manner.

She rolled her eyes as she decided just to come out and tell him what she needed. "House, Rachel ran away last night, have you by any chance seen her at all?"

Her tense voice caught House's attention as he blankly stared. "Nope," he said. "What makes you think the kid would come to me?"

Cuddy sighed. "I don't know, I just have to check everywhere."

"Unless you were feeding her more lies about me being her daddy," he remarked.

Those were the words that sting her, but she had to ignore them. "I told her last night about her real parents. Now she's out to find her real father."

"And that somehow involves her coming after me?" he asked.

Cuddy was busy and didn't need this right now. Without even saying bye to him, she hung up the phone and parked the car. She had gotten to the park and decided to search for her there.

House sighed as he slowly hung up his phone. Without much thought, he had decided to grab his coat and leave.

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had a science fair project and I was trying to finish up my other story. I hope this was worth waiting for. Please review! J**


	6. A Matter of Trust

Chapter 5: A Matter of Trust

Rachel walked out of the bookstore. It was still Sunday and the library was still closed. She was starting to regret running away. At least if she would have waited one night she would have been able to sleep somewhere and then go to the library the very next morning and maybe have gotten to her dad's before the next night. Now all she could do was walk around out in the cold.

It was getting harder and harder the even think about staying away from another night. The thought in the back of her head that kept her from gong back home was the thought that she didn't belong there. She knew that Cuddy would do anything for her, so she figured that she had better do something that was good for Cuddy.

Rachel was about to convince herself to just turn around and try to find her way back home when she was approached by an older man. He was about in his forties. He wore a thick, black winter coat over his medium built body with pants and dress shoes to match. His face was unshaven and his deep brown eyes looked to her from under the hat that he wore. "Hey there young lady."

She started to turn away from the man but he grabbed her arm. "Hey, wait a minute. What are you doing out here all alone? Aren't you supposed to be with your mommy and daddy?" His voice was ruff, but his grip was loose.

"I left my mommy to go look for my daddy," she quickly and nervously answered.

"Oh?" he asked. His interest was now sparked as his eyes had widened. "What's your mommy and daddy's names?"

"Lisa Cuddy and Simon Anderson," Rachel answered. This question had eased her mind a bit. Now, she was starting to think of this man the same way that she had thought about the lady at the bookstore, just someone who wanted to help her to find her parents.

The man's eyes lit up. "I know him! He lives right next door to me!"

"Really!?" Rachel was now excited. This was what she had needed.

"Yeah! You wanna come with me so I can introduce you to him?" he asked. His voice going along with what ever Rachel's did. Giving her his hand, he gave her a smile.

"Yes please!" the little girl squealed. Taking his hand, she followed him down the sidewalk. "I bet we're going to surprise him aren't we?"

The man just grinned. "I'm sure we are little girl, I'm quite certain we will."

Rachel just smile to herself. It was hard to believe that she was just about to give up on meeting her father. Now she was finally going to meet him. She was finally going to be able to tell him about the good grades that she had gotten. She would be able to tell him about her mommy, Cuddy and then ask him what her real mom was like. Now like just about everyone else in her class, she could tell them about both her mommy and daddy like the others would do.

*******************

Cuddy rushed into the bookstore. She had just gotten done driving through the neighborhoods again, and thought that she might have better luck if she went from store to store. "Excuse me," she said getting the attention of one of the workers.

"Yes ma'am?" she politely asked as she smiled.

"My daughter," she said as she dug through her purse. Once she finally got the picture, she held it up. "Have you seen her?"

The worker took the picture from her and looked it over for a minute. "Yes I have," she handed the picture back over. "She left about an hour ago, said that you were next door."

Knowing that Rachel could have just walked in and out that easily really got to her. The only that kept her from screaming at that woman, was the fact that she knew that the sooner she got back out and looked for Rachel, the sooner she would find her. Briskly, she turned and walked out of the store.

She had tried every store there, but kept hearing that they had either not seen her or that she had walked past. These places were getting her no where. The only reason that she had stayed there for as long as she did was because she had gotten an answer that almost helped her from one place.

She made her way back to her car and climbed inside. There was nothing much else to do at the moment. She felt so useless and hated it. Anything could happen to Rachel out there on her own and just about every thought made her cringe. It was getting harder and harder for her to hold back the tears as she started the car. "Damn it," she angrily yelled to herself as she punched the dashboard.

* * *

House sat there in the silence of Cuddy's living room as he waited for her to return. He had arrived there a few hours ago, but instead of leaving, he knew that she would need someone whether Rachel was with her or not when she had returned back home.

He had to keep reminding himself that she would be mad at him when she returned, and telling him that he had been right about all the things he had said about being a bad mother. He never doubted that she would be a great mother, but he was House, and he was jealous. He also knew that she would do nothing but prove him wrong.

He sighed as he looked around the room. Covering the walls were pictures of Cuddy and Rachel together. One being a group photo of everyone from Rachel's first birthday. Seeing that picture had made him cringe internally. Right before her birthday, he and Cuddy had gotten into a huge fight. It was sad how he didn't even remember what the fight was about, but whatever it was, it kept her from inviting him to Rachel's birthday. He was never going to tell Cuddy, but he wanted to be there. Instead, the next day he asked her how many employees had kissed her ass that night and how many she was going to give raises to.

The slamming of the door had brought him back from his thoughts to reality. "How was it?" he yelled out to get her attention.

Cuddy had already stormed to her bedroom by the time he had made himself noticed, but she quickly walked back and stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "What the hell are you doing here?" Her voice gave away how weak and fragile she was at the moment.

"I just thought that you might need some help," he said.

She was taken aback by the answer, but still wouldn't let her guard down. She was getting herself ready the verbal abuse that she was about to receive from him. "And how were you going to go about that? By telling me that I should have given her back when I doubted myself the first time? That this would have never happened if she was with someone else?"

House furrowed his brow. "Well, they might not have lied about her father," he started.

"Not now," she said as she started to walk away.

House got up and limped over to her. "You know, you did tell her the truth, and you did realize that she would be curious?"

Cuddy sighed and turned back around to face him. "No! I thought that she would just forget about him!" she sarcastically snapped.

This was going to get old. He knew that all she was going to do was argue with him all night. "Let's go," he ordered as he lead her to the door.

"What?' she asked.

House turned to her. "I thought we would go out for a drink, I know this one place where they'll pay you a dollar to sit on their laps," he said as he opened the door.

Cuddy started to go back for her room. She had neither the time nor energy to come up with a comeback for that one.

"Come on! What did you think? We're going out there to go look for the kid!" he called out. Cuddy stopped and turned to him again. This time her face was drained of every ounce of energy. "I know better, you don't mope around like some pathetic drama queen. Now stop that damn pouting like it makes people actually care and get into the car."

Cuddy just grabbed her coat and rushed to the door. She stopped before House and looked up to him. Her eyes had the pain and hurt that she had been feeling all day, and although his words had stung her, she needed to hear them. "Thank you," she said and then they both headed out the door.


	7. Simon Says

Chapter 6: Simon Says

Rachel followed the man to an apartment building that wasn't too far down the road from where they had met earlier. The place seemed nice, but it really didn't matter to her. "My daddy doesn't own a house?" she asked out of pure curiosity.

"Afraid not sweety." This was a lot easier than he had originally thought. "Does that bother you?"

Rachel looked up at the building as they climbed the small set of stairs to the front door. "No, I guess not."

He flashed his ominous smile in her direction. "Good," he said as he opened the door and showed her in.

Rachel stepped in and looked around. What was on the inside did not necessarily match what she had seen on the outside. She looked over and saw the walls with torn wallpaper, the floorboards creaked while half of the them either stuck up from the ground or were missing. This was when she felt uncomfortable. "Where's my daddy?" she asked. The nervousness could easily be picked up from her voice.

The man took her up the stairs without saying one word. Rachel would start to pull back away from him, but it was no use, his grip was tight. Once they got upstairs, there was only one door, and he opened it and basically threw her in there. "Listen kid, I don't know your father. You're just that stupid to believe me. Now stay here while I go call your mommy and see if I can't get that money that she owes me."

Rachel just stood there as the door slammed shut before her. There was nothing she could do. Her body began to shake as tears began to fall from her eyes. Her throat dried as she tried to say something, there was nothing to say, nor could she think of anything to say, but to just say something, anything at all would help somehow. The little girl slowly sat down on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I didn't mean to leave if you wanna come get me now," she said somehow hoping that her mom would come through the door within the next few moments.

* * *

House walked Cuddy into her house. There was no sign of Rachel from today except for the fact that she had been to the bookstore.

The house was dark, but House had managed to walk her to the kitchen where she stopped and checked the phone messages. Nothing. Nothing at all. Cuddy slowly hung up the phone and stayed frozen for a minute with her hand on the receiver and back to him. Her shoulders began to shake, and she lightly sobbed as she turned her tear stricken face to him. "No," was all that she could get out as she shook her head.

House just looked down with defeat. It was hard for him to really say anything, what could he say? Her daughter, the one that she had tried so hard to get was gone. She had run away from home. "You need someone to stay here with you?" he asked. It probably wasn't the best question, but it was the only one that he could think of at the time.

Cuddy just shrugged and slowly walked around the table. There was nothing that anyone could do unless they showed up at her doorstep with Rachel well and happy.

House couldn't stand to see her like this. He took the seat next to her and put his arm around her. Her head went down to lean on his shoulder.

The two just sat there like that until the phone rang. House got up to get it. "Hello?"

"Hello. I doubt that you remember me or my face but I should let you know that I have your kid here and you ain't getting her back til I get what I deserve. Now listen carefully, and if you interrupt me I swear it, the kid gets it. Rule number one, never make a move unless I tell you to do so. Two, I see everything you do, be careful, and last, I want my five hundred thousand here in a week. Anything done against these rules and the kid gets it."

"Granted. Where do you want to meet for the switch?"

"You know the old Tony's bar? Out back behind there."

"Alright, I'll see you there in a few days." House hung up and looked over at Cuddy who had been eagerly listening in on half the conversation.

"Was that?" she started to ask. She didn't have to go any further since House nodded as he went and sat back down next to her.

"How much money you have at the moment?" He asked.

"How much do I need?" she asked. Right now she was willing to fork over any amount of money, just as long as she had a way of getting it.

House was about to tell her the full amount, but he could see how stressed out she was. "Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

Cuddy just blankly stared. That was a lot of money for anyone. She wasn't about to hesitate handing it over, but what she was worried about was getting it. That was more than she made in a year. "Okay, I'll go to the bank tomorrow, search through some money I have here," she said more to herself.

"You know, if you need any money," House started.

Cuddy turned to him and slightly smiled. "Thank you, but I couldn't ask you to spend your money on my daughter. Its, really, I'll take care of it." She stood up and walked off a little bit away from the table. She tried her hardest to calm herself down, but it was no use. "I won't be at work tomorrow," she said, slightly beginning to sob. "So if anyone asks, just say that I'm sick or something."

House just looked over to Cuddy with sympathy. She still had her back to him, but he could still her desperately trying to wipe off her face and hold back until he had left. He stood up and went over to the door. "If you need anything," he said.

Cuddy looked over to him. Her eyes were puffy and her face all red. She wasn't able to say anything, so she nodded to him.

House nodded in return and then left. It was hard for him to just leave her like that, but he had things he had to do, like coming up with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He could do it, he just needed some time.

* * *

The next day at work would have seemed weird without Cuddy there, if he would have actually stayed more than a couple hours. He went in long enough to see if there were any cases for him and then left.

His first stop was at the bank to see how much money he had saved up and all of that. He ended up taking out all eighty thousand dollars, and with the six thousand that he had stashed at home, he was almost halfway there.

He sat in his living room as he looked around and thought about what to do. There had to be more things that he could do to get more money before he turned to taking out a loan. "Well, my paycheck should help a bit," he said as he thought out loud to himself. With the paycheck, he would get himself up to ninety thousand and five hundred dollars. He suddenly got an idea, he got up and went over to where he kept his Megadeath autographed guitar. "This should get me closer to what I need."


	8. Finding Out

Chapter 7: Finding Out

The room was dark and dreary. The corners held cobwebs and random shreds of stained wallpaper. There was one single window in the room with her, and over it a torn, dingy, soft blue drape. The couch that she currently sat on was the only piece of furniture that existed within the four walls.

Rachel sat there in that room as she blankly stared out the window with her knees pulled up to her chest. This was the time where she began to see how bad of a choice she had made within deciding to run away.

Cold, tired and scared, the warm tears fell down her cheeks. More than ever she had wanted to just see her mom. She wanted to hear that it would be okay, that there was nothing to be afraid of, but that was too much to ask for. One thing she knew that she wanted to do right now was lay down, get a little bit of sleep. The only thing that had kept her from doing so was the musty smell of the couch.

House sat there at his desk. Even though Cuddy was not there, he still had to be there. He might as well have not been though. All of his thoughts centered around her and Rachel. A couple of nights ago he saw her fragile, nervous, basically about to break down and completely fall apart. Its hard to see someone like that when you care about them, but sometimes that's what it takes to find out exactly how much you care and what you would be willing to do for that person. This was that point for House. He had sold his guitar and was gathering up his savings.

There was no way that he could even attempt to concentrate on his patient until he knew what was going on. Pulling out his cellphone, he called her.

"Hello?" Cuddy asked.

"Anything change?" He knew that she knew his voice. There was no point in wasting time to work up to the important questions.

Cuddy stood in her living room and sighed. "No."

"What did the police say? Anything useful?"

Cuddy began to slowly pace the room. "Just to go along with what he wants. I have the money together and I told them where its gonna be dropped off and where I should get Rachel back."

House sighed and looked down towards the floor. They really were getting no where with this.

"They have a reward out for her," Cuddy said, her voice beginning to crack. She waited for him to say something while she gathered herself. There were no words from him, and she was not able to compose herself. "House, I think if Rachel does come home, I'm gonna find another job, in another state..."

House quickly sat up. "Wait! What the hell are you talking about?"

"That man, that man that says he has Rachel. When I first started out in medicine, I was asked to assist in surgery on his wife. Something went wrong, and I was blamed for it." Cuddy stopped and tried desperately to calm herself. "If one mistake can come back to me like this and punish Rachel for it, I don't want to have to deal with it anymore. I had already been sued, and I guess he's mad because he had lost the case. Now he wants to show me."

House blankly stared. Things made a bit more sense to him now. "What was his name?"

Cuddy shrugged. "The last time I saw him in court it was Jeff Waylens, but I'm sure that he has changed it by now."

"Did you at least check out that name?" House asked.

"Of course I did," Cuddy snapped. She had been offended by the question. "The closest listing is in Pennsylvania. Other than that, I have nothing."

"Was there by any chance an address?" House asked.

"What good would it do House? He's obviously not there. It would be stupid to go back there after you have the police looking for you."

"Right," House distantly responded. "I was just wondering how much they're willing to give away."

House got off the phone and then got up and left the room. There had to be more that he could do. Cuddy was right, she and Rachel were the perfect targets, Cuddy worked in a place where one simple mistake could be fatal and she had money that anyone would want to go after.

Getting to the elevator, he spotted Wilson. "Hey you!" House called out upon seeing him. "Caring guy, wait up."

Wilson stopped and turned to face him as he waited at the elevator door. "Yes?" he asked.

"You think you could babysit my team for me for a couple of days and make sure that Cuddy doesn't find out that I'll be gone?" House stood there and watched for any sign of concern. He knew once he got him to feel bad, that he would be able to get him to do what he wanted.

Wilson just watched him for a moment. "I'm not watching you're team so that you can go out and get drunk without Cuddy knowing."

The elevator door opened and they both stepped in. As soon as the door shut, House turned to Wilson. "Come on. I'll do what ever you want me to do. Just make sure that Cuddy has no idea what I'm up to."

Wilson sighed. There was a true sincerity in his eyes that allowed him to trust House a little. Even if he was beginning to trust him though, he still had to find out what was going on. "Just tell me what you're doing and I'll make sure she doesn't find out about it."

The door opened at the main level. House wanted to get out of there as quickly as he could and really didn't care what Wilson did and didn't know at this point. "Fine," he stated trying to keep his voice hushed. "I have a few things to do to help Cuddy out and I don't want her to know about it. She would never accept it, she's too proud."

Wilson couldn't deny him that. He himself would have done a lot to help Cuddy out at this point. He could see the determination in his eyes and decided to just back down and follow through with his requests. "All right, just do me one more favor."

"What's that?" House asked. The annoyance clear in his voice.

"Just don't screw anything up," Wilson said.

"Wasn't planning on it," House quickly answered as he left the building.

**I am sorry about the long wait on this. I really have been busy and then there was also a little writers block. I hope you enjoyed it. And Happy Thanksgiving every one! Even if its a little late. **

**_I would also like to dedicate this to my Grandma who has passed away. She would have done anything for anyone and was screwed over in the end. I hope that she knows it was only a small part of the family that would have acted like that, and not all of us. _**


	9. Lies

Chapter 9: Lies

House got in his car and drove. There was no particular destination, but he had an idea of where he wanted to go. Since he had left work, he had tried a few of the more run down areas of New Jersey. A few of the neighborhoods, he had gotten out and asked a few questions. So far, he had gotten no where. If he hadn't gotten anywhere by dark, he was going to go back home and then try New York in the morning. It was a big place, but it was close by, and most of the run down areas had a lot of places to hide. He had done enoguh research before he left to find out that the man they were after turned out to not have much money, so he knew that he wasn't going to be paying ot stay somewhere. Plus, it just made sense to him. Stay somewhere alone and abandoned, that way there aren't people around to question you on the situation.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rachel sat by the window. She was still scared, lonely and regretful, but she had started to feel a little numb to it. After getting through the night and not being able to go anywhere, you get used to it. There was nothing she could do, and that was easy to see right now.

The door creaked open as Jeff entered the room. Remaining silent, he walked over and set down an unopened water bottle and package of crackers. Rachel just looked up to him. Her eyes full of innocence. Most people, if they were to look at her, they would not think that she deserved this, any of this. Jeff however, was somehow able to look past it. "What do you want?" he asked.

"All I wanted was to see my daddy," Rachel said and then looked down.

"And all I wanted was life to be fair, but that didn't happen either." He started to walk back to the door, but was stopped when Rachel spoke up.

"Why did you want me?"

Jeff turned to her. "Your mom, she killed my wife, and then won the lawsuit. I have been watching you two for a while. When I noticed you were gone, I took my chance at you, and it worked."

Rachel couldn't believe what she was hearing. Being eight, the part about him watching them didn't quite register as it should. She knew it was bad, but there was something that bothered her more in that statement. "But my mommy can barely kill a spider. She couldn't kill a person."

"Well of course you wouldn't think so. But I doubt that she's letting you see her true self."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"You're mom puts on an act kid. She acts like she cares, but she don't give a shit about you or any other human being out there," Jeff said as he leaned back against the wall.

"That's not true! She loves me," Rachel said.

"Yeah? Then why hasn't she come here to get you yet?" Jeff asked. "I mean, all she has to do is pay a few bucks and then I would actually take you back home to her. But she hasn't gotten around to actually diong that yet."

Rachel just blankly stared. A few dollars, and she could go home. Experience told her that she couldn't trust this man, but at the same time, there were a couple of things that her mom had forgotten to do for her while she was busy.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Cuddy sat up in bed. It was around four in the morning. She was having trouble sleeping. The feeling of uselessness and guilt were overcoming her. The fact that there wasn't all that much that she could do was bothering her. Rubbing her eyes, she got up and walked out and over to the kitchen. She didn't even bother to turn on any lights, instead she walked over to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of wine and went and sat down with it. "To all the phone calls and pointless trips that have gotten me nowhere," she said and then took a drink.

Right now, all she wanted to do was go out there and look herself. Go out into every area in New Jersey until she found her. If she didn't find her here, then start going to other states. That though, was out of the question for her. First, she would get lost, which really wouldn't do either of them any good. Second, she knew there were a few parts that she just wouldn't be able to protect herself after dark.

"What mother sleeps through their child packing and leaving?" Cuddy asked as she laid her head back over the back of the chair. There was nothing that she wouldn't do for Rachel, but she had to be a little rational. If she got herself hurt and or lost, she wouldn't be able to do anything for Rachel.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

House sat up in bed, it was around five in the morning and his alarm had just gone off. There was a long day ahead of him, so immediately, he threw his covers off of him and went to get dressed. No breakfast or anything like that, he just got on his motorcycle and headed straight towards New York.

**I know that I haven't update in a LONG time. I am sorry about that, but I will start writing for this story again and finish it. Let me know what you think. **


	10. Wearing Down

Chapter 10: Wearing Down

House drove along the highway. He was coming back from New York. It had been a long day, a long unsuccessful day. His thoughts focused on the little girl that he was out looking for. The little girl that he had actually babysat a few times. The one that used to look forward to him coming over so that she could stay up late and watch what ever she had wanted. She wouldn't remember that though. Cuddy stopped having him babysit so often when she turned four and started preschool.

House laughed when she told him that Rachel needed a better influence, that she couldn't go around sharing the things that he was teaching her. Although he did agree with her, deep down he had wished that things didn't have to change. He wasn't about to tell Cuddy that, but that was how he had felt.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Cuddy sat by the phone. She had just gotten done talking to the police. Nothing yet. This was a littel girl out there somewhere, and all they had to say was that they were working on it. The only thing that kept her from yelling at the police was the fact that she needed them to want to help her. It would be unprofessional of them to slack just because of a few words over the phone, but there was no sense in taking that chance.

Walking through the darkened house, she made her way over to the living room. No reason to turn on the lights, all they did was reveal the pictures of Rachel around her, so instead she sat in the dark.

She was desperate. Her daughter was gone and they were getting nowhere with finding her. This was all taking a toll on her nerves.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the familiar number. House. There were different people to talk to at different times. Wilson was when you needed to coddled. Needed comfort, to hear that things were going to be all right. This though, was different. If she heard anyone tell her that this would all be okay, she was about ready to lose it. She needed to hear what was really going on around her. House could be hurtful, but he was brutally honest.

House sat at a coffee shop as he heard his phone go off. "What?" he asked. Saying hello and asking who it was, was for people who were ready to waste time.

Cuddy sat there on the couch, staring off into the darkness. "They got nothing. Three days she has been gone, and they have nothing."

House sat there. What was there to say to that? This was one of the only times in his life that he had actually cared, and he didn't want to ruin anything. "Just give them some time. Its a big area." It was just something that he thought sounded right to say. He knew that it would be hard to find a kid out there, he could tell just from the luck that he had been having.

Cuddy listened to what he had said, but in the back of her mind, she was beginning to think the worst. "I don't know if I could believe that," she flatly stated.

House knew where she was going with this, and he hated it. The mere thought of her just sitting there alone trying to cope with the idea of never seeing Rachel again was too much to stomach. "Cuddy, she's ten years old. Ten year old kids are a bit more resiliant than you give them credit for. She can last up to a week without any food or water. Something tells me though that she has at least eaten once since she has left home. Besides, you know that if the man really wants his money, he won't do anything to seriously hurt her. Anyone with a single digit IQ could've told you that." The last remark wasn't necessary, he wanted to make it seem like obvious information. He wanted her to know that he wasn't just simply trying to tell her what she wanted to hear. He needed more credibility than that.

Cuddy, again, sat there and considered what he had said. He was right. There was no reason for the kidnapper to hurt her. It would be stupid on his part. "Okay," she said. "You're right."

"As always," House said.

"Bye," she said. After hanging up, she looked down at the phone and forced a smile. "Thank you," she said.

House placed his phone back into his pocket and went back to his coffee. He had to really start thinking now. Cuddy was starting to slowly lose it, and he didn't like that at all. Just by her voice, he could tell how weak she was getting. He figured that the most sleep she could have gotten was only a few hours. That was no way to be during a time like this, it only made everything seem ten times worse than it was.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rachel sat in the corner of the room. Her eyes, bloodshot with dark circles overtaking her eyes. The pure exhaustion was starting to get to her. The fear of something happening while she was asleep though, was the only thing that kept her awake.

At a very young age, she was learning something that most people go a life time without learning, how strong the will to survive is. This was no, lets play pretend camp that most people did to prove that they could last in the wild. This was the real deal. Dangerous sleeping conditions, no food or water, and absolutely no contact with the outside world.

All she wanted to do was cry, but her eyes seemed to be too dry. It didn't matter though. It wasn't like the unseen tears would actually change anything. Slowly, like she had been doing, she started to doze off into a fitfull, ten minute nap.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

House left the coffee shop and decided to pass through the neighborhood down the street rather than take the way around to get back home. Slowly passing through, he examined the houses. The quiet little street seemed like a friendly enough place, but for some reason he didn't trust it. Going with his instinct, he parked his motorcycle and decided to go up to the houses and check them.


	11. Answers

Chapter 11: Answers

Rachel lay on the cold, hard floor of her room. Tired green eyes blankly stared up towards the grime covered ceiling. The only part of the room that she had not yet completely burned into her memory.

In the beginning, she had figured that her mom would come and save her. Deep down, she truly did believe that someone was going to come. With each passing day though, that hope slowly left her.

Now, more than anything, she was numb. Numb to the fear she once felt, to the pure exhaustion she felt, to the aches and pains she felt from both hunger and lack of sleep. Jeff had even made her numb to the hope that her mom would help her, to the point where she believed that Cuddy didn't even care for her.

None of that seemed to matter anymore. The thoughts going through her head right now, were not typical of most ten year olds. Along with the apprehension of never getting out, came the fear of dying there. That was the first time in her life that she could ever remember being afraid of dying.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

House tried the first couple of houses on the street. They of course, had the same results as everything else had that day, nothing.

At the first house he went up, knocked on the door and a younger man answered the door. He asked a few questions, about who was there, acting as if he were lost and looking for someone while carefully observing things in the background.

The second was a younger girl, no older than about nineteen was the easier one. Right away, she was scared to really open the door and talk to him. When she finally did open the door, he saw a couple younger kids running around.

Now, he was at the third house. "Third times a charm," he muttered to himself as he made his way up the steps.

Jeff, who was on his way up to Rachel, heard the knock at the door and paused. "Hold on!" he called out and then rushed up to Rachel's room.

"Rachel!" he called out in a hushed tone as he threw open the door.

Rachel grogily sat up and looked over to him. "What?" she weakly asked.

"There's someone at the door. Keep your mouth shut until they're gone. You hear me?"

Rachel nodded.

"Good," Jeff said and then closed the door and ran down the stairs.

"Sorry about that," Jeff said as he opened the door.

House stood there and watched him. He noted the fact that it took him a while to answer the door. "Its fine," he said. "I'm Ted Douglas and I'm with the Washington local school district and am performing a survey. You mind if I ask a few questions?" House asked as he pulled out a pad of paper.

Jeff sighed as he thought about it. "Sure," he said. He really didn't want anyone sticking around for too long, but he also didn't want to chase him away and cause any suspicion.

"All right. Do you have any children?" It was a good question to start out with, he thought.

Jeff was automatically about to say no, but he had figured that he better say yes, just in case Rachel decided to make any noise. "Yeah," he said after a moment's hesitation, one which House had mentally noted.

House pretended to write something and then looked back up to him. "How many?"

"One."

"Attending school?"

Jeff, again took a moment to think. "Yeah."

House noticed the fact that he was trying to rush him along. He was nervous. There was one thing he could do that would give him a definite answer. "Are your children home right now?" he asked, his voice slightly raised. "I need to ask them a few questions. We have had some complaints about a couple of the teachers there and I think we could all really benefit from what the children have to say about all of this."

Jeff sighed. "Look, we're busy tonight. We have somewhere we've got to be in a couple of hours.'

"A few minutes? Please? I promise I will leave right after."

Jeff thought about it. The man didn't seem too suspicious to him. The only problem was that he knew that Rachel looked bad. If it meant getting rid of the man though, he was sure that he could so something about her looks. "All right, I'll go get my daughter. Be right back."

House stood there and waited as Jeff turned and rushed up the stairs. He knew that there was something wrong here, he just wasn't sure if this was the place that he was looking for or not.

As soon as he saw Rachel walk down the stairs though, he knew. The little girl that he once knew was now pail and weak. The life was gone out of her. He wanted to do something right then and there, but had to restrain himself.

Rachel saw him right away. Upstairs she had heard the familiar voice and was now actually excited to see him. She couldn't show it, she knew better than that at this point.

"Well, go ahead," Jeff said as he lead Rachel to the door.

House looked ot her for a second. "Um, yeah. There were some complaints about the phys. ed teacher, Mr. Gain. Did you ever have any problems with him?"

Rachel looked up to him. This had to be one of the few times that he truly did feel his heart drop.

"Yeah," Rachel answered. Even her voice sounded weak to him, but he was glad to hear her go along with him. "He kept leaving the class. He was gone a lot of the time."

"I see," House said. "Now, did he ever send anyone in to watch the class when ever he would leave?"

Rachel just shook her head.

"I think I've got all I need. Thank you both for your cooperation." It took a minute, but House was finally able to pry his eyes off of Rachel and look back to Jeff.

"Anytime," Jeff said and then quickly closed the door.

House stood there for a second in awe. Through the window, he could see Jeff lead Rachel back up the stairs. Quickly, he reached into his pocket and grabbed his cell phone to text Wilson. He typed in the address and then texted, send cops here...NOW.

After the message was sent, he went around to the side where he had found a fire escape that lead up to the second floor.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Cuddy and Wilson sat across the table from each other in the hospital cafeteria.

The stress was showing its wear and tear on Cuddy. Her eyes were dark and tired. Wilson could have sworn that he actually saw a couple of gray hairs, but he didn't know if he was exaggerating things or if they were really there.

"You think it was a bad idea for me to come in and check up on things?" Cuddy asked as she stared into the cup of coffee before her.

"I think you needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours," Wilson answered.

"I don't know," Cuddy said. Her eyes looked up to him. "What if someone calls while I'm gone? Then what?"

Wilson sighed. "Look," he said. His gentle, sympathetic eyes looked to her. "You have a cell phone. You can get out for a few minutes without everything going wrong. If you were stay in that house for a few hours longer pacing by the phone, I'm pretty sure you would have driven yourself insane."

Cuddy nodded in agreement before taking a sip of her coffee. It was getting late out, and she knew that she shouldn't be drinking any caffeine so close to bed time, but she had a feeling that this night wouldn't be any different from the last few. She would try to get a few hours sleep, but end up getting up and waiting by the phone again.

Wilson was about to say something, but his phone went off. He checked the message and gasped. "Excuse me," he said standing up.

"What?" Cuddy asked.

"Hold on," Wilson replied, rushing out of the room.

Cuddy sat there for a minute as she watched him leave. If she were to quickly stand up and go after him, she knew she would black out or something similiar. So instead, she slowly got up and walked over to the entrance and stepped out the door.

"Yeah," Wilson said on the phone, with his back to Cuddy. "There's a young girl there. One that was kidnapped. She was spotted there a few minutes ago."

Cuddy softly gasped. She had no idea what had really happened, but she did know that someone had found Rachel, and that was all that mattered to her.

Wilson hung up and turned around to see Cuddy standing there. A huge smile of both relief and excitement that clashed against her weary eyes. "Someone find her?" she immediately asked.

"They think so," Wilson said. It was House. He had no idea what he had done or how he knew, he just knew that this was House and he had his theories and such.

"Where?" Cuddy asked.

He knew that the second he told her, that she would head over there. The problem was that he wasn't sure. There was no definite answers and it wasn't the greatest neighborhood.

"Wilson," Cuddy pleaded as she approached him. "I'm begging you. I haven't seen my daughter in four days. For four days and nights I have been wondering if she was even still alive. Everytime I would pass her room I would cringe at the thought of never getting to see her again. Please, tell me where my daughter is."

It was hard to say no. He had never seen Cuddy like this before. Her eyes were desperate as she stared up to him. Right now, she was at her most vulnerable, if anything went wrong, she could easily lose it. At the moment, he was pretty sure that if he denied her the location that she would lose it.

"Let's go," he announced in defeat.

"Thank you," Cuddy said as she followed him.


	12. Angel in Disguise

Chapter 12: Angel in Disguise

House made his way up the fire escape. He could just barely see in through the window, a dimly lit room where the man stood before Rachel. From what he could see, the man was talking to her as she blankly stared off into space.

Lowering the risk of being seen, House decided to stand off to the side of the window for a couple of minutes. Since he was able to hear the muffled voice of Jeff, he used that to know when he was gone.

House waited in the silence for a moment before looking into the room the best he could. Outlines were all he could see. There was only one person to be found in the room. The last thing he wanted to do was create any noise and bring attention to himself, that meant that he had to do something other than break the window. Could he open it?

Rachel sat there with her back against the wall, facing the door that Jeff had just left through. There were no threats or anything, he had simply told her to be careful. It didn't matter to her though. All she knew was that she had seen someone she knew earlier, and now they were gone. He didn't try to take her back or anything, he just watched her as she watched him.

Carefully, House set his cane against the wall and then tried to lift the window. It opened. Slowly, but surely it started to open. He just had to work at it a little.

Rachel heard a tiny squeak come from the window and quickly looked over. It was House. A small smile crept across her face. He didn't just leave her there.

Rachel's smile quickly faded though as she heard a loud snapping noise. "Rachel! Quickly!" House called out to her, finally getting the window to completely open.

The little girl's heart was pounding. She was sure that Jeff was right now rushing up the stairs to her room. It didn't matter though. She wouldn't let herself be paralyzed by the fear. Instead, she pushed herself off the ground and jolted across the room.

"Hey!" Rachel heard Jeff shout as she reached the window.

Ignoring the pain he felt in his leg, House reached in and lifted her over the ledge. "Now run down there!" he ordered as he set her down.

Rachel didn't even stop to think. All she knew was that she was about to do anything that House told her to do. She ran as fast as she could down the stairs and then stopped on the sidewalk.

Upstairs, House stood by the window, keeping his spot. He knew that he could have went down with Rachel, but instead he wanted to distract Jeff and make sure that he didn't go back after Rachel. Besides, he knew that if Wilson had his phone on him, that the police should be there soon. However, if Wilson for some reason wasn't by his phone, then he had the feeling that he was screwed.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Jeff questioned as he approached the window.

House stood there, showing no emotion. He simply stood there, calmly waiting. "Someone who's not pathetic enough to still be whining and moaning over an incident that happened long ago."

Jeff stopped before the window and quickly looked House over. "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about."

House retrieved his cane from the spot where he had left it against the wall and leaned on it. "Listen, your wife died. Boo hoo. Everyone's gotta die sometime. What makes your wife so special?"

Jeff's fist clentched as he shoved his hand into his pocket. "How dare you come over here and ruin everything! I was just about to get the justice that I deserved! I was about to show that bitch what it felt like! And you come over here and take that all away!"

"What justice?" House yelled. "You're wife died years ago and you're using that to get some quick money." House was aware that he was upsetting Jeff and kept his eyes on the hand that Jeff currently had in his pocket.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rachel had decided to just sit down on the steps. She could hear House and Jeff upstairs, so she knew that he wasn't about to come get her.

The adrenaline rush from earlier had worn off, leaving her in the same condition that she was in before, weak and exhausted.

"Rachel!"

Rachel jumped. Her nerves were somewhat over sensative at the moment. As soon as she looked over though, she saw her mom running towards her as Wilson stepped out of the car and watched from a far.

Cuddy knelt down before Rachel and embraced her. "You don't know how relieved I am to see you," she said and then pulled back and examined the little girl. "Please, don't ever. I mean ever do that again. You hear me?" Cuddy sternly warned.

Rachel just stared at her with tear filled eyes. "Why didn't you want me back?" Jeff's words were still ringing clearly through her head. _ "Yeah? Then why hasn't she come here to get you yet?" Jeff asked. "I mean, all she has to do is pay a few bucks and then I would actually take you back home to her. But she hasn't gotten around to actually doing that yet."_

Stunned at the question, Cuddy blankly stared at the little girl with her mouth slightly agape. "What do you mean?" She was slightly offended by the question.

"He told me that all you had to do was pay him a couple of dollars."

Cuddy sighed. "Honey, I had no idea where you were. He called and said he needed money but never said where to bring it or anything."

Rachel was about to respond to Cuddy, but her attention was brought to the two cop cars that pulled up infront of the house. Four policemen came out, three split up to go search the place while the other one walked over to Rachel and Cuddy. "This the girl that was missing?"

"Yeah," Cuddy replied.

"You mind if I ask the girl a few questions?" he requested as he pulled out a pad of paper.

"Okay," Cuddy nodded as she stood up. She started to walk away and give the policeman a moment alone with her, but Rachel grabbed her.

"Don't go," Rachel pleaded as she looked up to her with her innocent green eyes.

"All right," Cuddy said, softly smiling as she went and sat down next to her on the steps.

"Now, I got to ask this," the policeman started. The seriousness in his voice started to scare Rachel. "What exactly did that man do to you while you were with him?"

"He talked to me," Rachel answered. At the moment, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about everything that had happened. Hungry and tired, all she wanted was to go home. Before the next question could be asked though, a gun shot was heard that caused Rachel and Cuddy to both jump.

"Kindermen! Get an ambulance here now!"

The policeman shoved the pad into his pocket and ran towards the fire escape.

"Mommy?" Rachel asked as she looked up to Cuddy. "Does Dr. House have a gun that he keeps with him?"

Cuddy looked to her with confusion. "No," she said. At first, the question had made absolutely no sense to her, but as soon as she saw the fear in Rachel's eyes after her answer, she started to figure it out. "Rachel, honey? Was House the one that came and got you?"

Rachel just nodded.

Cuddy looked over in Wilson's direction and motioned for him to join her. "Stay with her," she told him as she stood up. She hastened towards the side of the building where she had seen the cops and then froze for a moment once she spotted the group around a man laying on the top of the staircase. The only thing to break her attention form them, was the police officer walking past her with Jeff handcuffed. Her eyes narrowed on him, glad that he was gone now.

She had to check and make sure that it was House though. She had to see for herself. Hesitating, she slowly made her way near to the top, just close enough to see House laying there, lifelessly as blood covered his chest.


	13. Scared

Chapter 13: Scared

Cuddy took Rachel along with her to the hospital. The first reason, was to get Rachel examined and make sure that she was all right. The second was House.

As soon as Cuddy was assured that Rachel was physically okay, she took her over to the ER with her. They should have gone right home, but Cuddy needed to stop in and see what was going on. She had to know that House was going to be okay.

Instead of going into the room with her mother, Rachel sat out in the hallway. Her back against the wall as she pulled her knees up to her chest. At the moment, she felt as if she could have fallen asleep for a few days straight, but not now. Not with all the memories of the past few hours playing through her head.

She sat there knowing that he was laying there in a hospital bed. He was there because of her. He had saved her. If not for him, she still could have been in that dreary, grimy place wondering how long she was going to continue living. Making herself numb to everything that was going on around her.

The only thing that grabbed her attention was the sound of foot steps echoing through out the empty hallway. Looking up, she saw her mother standing before her with red, puffy eyes. "I'm sorry," Rachel said as the tears began to finally fall from her eyes. "I didn't mean for that to happen." Getting only a nod in response, Rachel turned and stared down the hallway. "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt," she whispered to herself.

"I know honey," Cuddy responded.

Standing there, she watched her daughter. It was a confusing, bitter sweet scenario. She had just gotten her little girl back. Unharmed and alive, she got her daughter back. There was nothing more that she had wanted, and House risked his life for her. House was in there, possibly dying for Rachel. Never, in her life had anyone ever done anything like that for her. She was finally able to realize how much he truly did care for her, and she didn't even know if he was going to make it to tomorrow.

"Let's go home," Cuddy suggested as she extended her hand to Rachel.

Rachel grabbed her hand and stood up. She followed her through the hospital and across the parking lot until they got to the car, never letting go of her hand until they entered the car.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Cuddy stood, leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. Her head was lowered as she talked on the phone to Wilson who was keeping her updated on House.

She wanted to be there. She wanted to be able to wait by his side, but she couldn't. Not the first night that Rachel was back home. She had to be there in case Rachel had any nightmares or anything and also, just to be with her daughter whom she hadn't seen in the last four days. If she were able to though, she would have been there in a heart beat.

Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair. "Do you have an estimate about how long he'll be in surgery?" Cuddy choked out as she held back tears. Her eyes were still locked on the floor, revealing how vulnerable and desperate she truly was. Softly thanking him, she closed her eyes in a pointless attempt to hold back the tears. "Let me know if you hear anything?" It was more of a plea than a question.

She hung up the phone and leaned her head against the door frame. Tears began to lightly fall down her cheeks. House had risked his life to save her daughter, and all she could do was wait.

"Mommy?"

Cuddy quickly wiped her face as she turned back to see Rachel standing out in the hallway. "What is it honey?" she asked.

"I can't sleep," Rachel stated.

Cuddy nodded. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed with you. I thought you were sleeping when I left." She walked over and grabbed Rachel's hand, leading her back to her own bedroom instead of Rachel's.

It had only been a couple of hours since the two have gotten home. The first thing that Cuddy did was have Rachel eat something and then take a quick bath. Being the first night back home, she allowed Rachel to choose where she wanted to sleep that night and was thankful when she chose Cuddy's bedroom.

Entering the bedroom, Rachel let go of Cuddy's hand and climbed up onto the bed. Cuddy went and tucked her in and then sat beside her. She was worn out and would love to fall asleep, but she wanted to make sure that Rachel got to sleep first. She also wanted to stay up a few hours in case anything happened while House was in surgery.

The earlier phone call had revealed that House had been shot in the left side of his chest. The bullet had nicked both the heart and the lung. They had a hard time getting him stable enough for surgery.

"Why were you crying?" Rachel questioned. Her big green eyes staring up at Cuddy.

"I've just had a long day. That's all," Cuddy lied.

"Are you sure?" Rachel responded, trying to make sure that it wasn't about House.

"Yeah," Cuddy breathed out. "I'm sure."

"Okay," Rachel accpeted the fact that Cuddy wasn't going to be giving her any other reasons. "Good night mommy. I love you," she whispered as she started to doze off to sleep.

"Good night Rachel," Cuddy replied. Gently, she brushed back the little girl's hair back from her face. A soft smile came across her face as she watched her daughter peacefully sleep. The peacefulness wasn't about to last long and Cuddy was aware of that. Sooner or later, the nightmares would begin and her sleep would be disturbed, but for now, she was getting the sleep she desperately needed.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Mommy!"

Cuddy opened her eyes. All she could register was that she had heard someone say mommy. It took a second, but she remembered that Rachel was in the room with her. Quickly, she sat up and looked over to see the crying child. "Rachel," she softly called out as she hugged her. "You're all right. You're home now."

Rachel tightly wrapped her arms around Cuddy as she laid her head on her chest. The warm tears kept steadily running down her cheeks. The dream that she had had, was worse than what she had actually been through. The nightmare had consisted of the fears that she had rather than what really happened.

"Everything's fine now," Cuddy reassured her. Leaning down, she kissed the top of the young girl's head. She wished that she was able to do something more to help Rachel, but there wasn't.

"All over?" Rachel asked, trying to calm down. It was taking a while for the affects of the dream to wear off. Her heart was still pounding. Everything had seemed so real, as if she were back there with Jeff again. It was hard to shake the feeling of paranoia that she felt within the dream.

"It's over. I promise," Cuddy gently answered.

Curious as to what time it was, Cuddy turned back and briefly checked her phone. Along with noticing that it was about three in the morning, she saw that there were no messages, missed phone calls, anything. No word on House. It shouldn't matter now though. She turned all of her attention back to Rachel and pulled back from her. "Now, I know that I had already asked you earlier, and you did answer, but is there anything that happened that you didn't tell me about?"

Rachel dropped her arms from around and sat back. Her only response was her shaking her head. No.

"Was there anything that you wanted to talk about?" Cuddy asked. She wanted to know what was going on in her daughter's mind, to be able to calm her down. What ever it was that Rachel was seeing in her dreams, what ever she was keeping to herself, Cuddy wanted to be able to tell her that she didn't have to worry about it anymore. That all of this was over, that she could just forget about it and move on. If only it were all that simple.

"Mommy?" Rachel asked, completely ignoring Cuddy's question. "What's gonna happen to that man now?"

"He'll probably go to jail for a very, very long time," Cuddy dryly replied. Watching Rachel, she began to wonder if that was what had been scaring her. "Are you afraid that he's going to come back after you?"

Rachel nodded.

"Don't worry about him," Cuddy reassured, as she grabbed Rachel's shoulder. "I won't let him."

"Promise?" Rachel questioned. Her weary little angelic eyes stared up to Cuddy. What she didn't know was that she was currently tugging at her mother's heart strings.

"I promise," Cuddy answered.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Wilson sat at his desk. It was the middle of the night, but he had fallen asleep earlier while waiting for House to get out of surgery.

Now, he was alert. His head perked up with his forehead slightly scrunched in confusion. His eyes followed the surgeon as he left Wilson's office. There was no emotion to be seen on his face. The room was still for what seemed like hours. It took him a minute, but he finally looked down on his desk and retrieved his phone. Normally, he would have called Cuddy, but since she and Rachel both needed their sleep, he decided to just text her and hope that it didn't wake anyone.


	14. Breaking Points

Chapter 14: Breaking Points

Cuddy woke up the next morning to see Rachel peacefully sleeping. There were no tears or signs of stress upon the little girl's face. It pained her though, to have to double check to make sure that Rachel was okay, to have to get in the routine of calming her down when she would wake up. The once always happy child was now going to have nightmares that would follow her.

Right now though, Cuddy chose to be happy. She was happy with the fact that Rachel had gotten home, and that she was now safe. Right now, to her, that was all there was. That was when she remembered, House. The man who had saved her daughter, and was now lying in a hospital bed.

As carefully as she could, as to not disturb Rachel, Cuddy turned over and reached for her phone on the night stand. One new message. As opened and read it, she slowly sat up, taking the very words she read. "Oh shit," Cuddy whispered as she stood up and hurried out of the room. She had to call Wilson and make sure that what she was learning was still true.

"Wilson?" Cuddy asked.

"Yeah. Cuddy?" Wilson responded as he sat up. Last night, after hearing about House's condition, he decided to just fall asleep on the couch in his office. There was no use for him to go home for a few hours and then wake up and come right back to work.

"What do you mean?" Cuddy demanded. She was close to tears, but she didn't want to let on just yet. It was silly to fall apart over something that you weren't sure of.

Wilson sighed. Last night, he had told himself that when he woke up he was going to think of a way to explain this to her. Plan out his words so that it didn't sound so bad. He however, didn't get to call her, she called him at a point where he was just waking up, still trying to remember where he was at the moment. It made no difference though. She was a doctor too. Anything he said, she was going to be able to go through and see what he meant. There was no way to candy coat what was going on. "The blood started leaking into the walls of the heart. They were trying to fix it, but something went wrong and the problem started getting worse. They're going to try and fix it again today, but it doesn't look so good."

"What are they doing right now?" Cuddy questioned.

"They stitched it up well enough to keep too much blood from getting in there while they figure something out," Wilson explained.

"Great," Cuddy remarked. She was putting on a front by being sarcastic, but really the tears were already flooding her eyes.

Wilson could sense what she was doing. The last thing he wanted her to do was to have something else to worry about. Her daughter needed her right now, and he knew that. "Look, I doubt that it will come down to needing a transplant. At most they might just take a couple of surgeries," he said, trying to give her some hope.

This was all hard for her to comprehend right now. The man that she has seen risk his life time and time again doing stupid things that should have killed him, was now helpless in a hospital bed over one good thing that he has done. There were times where he had done dangerous things to figure out cases, but then there were times where he had used experimantal drugs, over dosed on the vicodin. All those things, he lived through.

It all confused her more than anything. Jeff was going to live, he was going to be in jail, but he was going to get to live, while House was shot and now has no guarantee of seeing next week. Sure, he would be put on the transplant list, but what were the odds of him getting one in time? He was a middle aged drug abuser.

"All right. Thanks for letting me know," Cuddy flatly said as she brushed her hand through her hair.

"I'll keep you updated," Wilson stated, hoping that he could soon give her better news.

"Thanks," Cuddy responded.

Wilson said bye to her and then waited a moment until he had heard the line go dead before hanging up. He tossed his phone to the side of him on the couch and then put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. It was going to be a long next few days.

After a few minutes of sitting there in the silence, he lifted his head and looked over to House's office. "You'd better pull through," he sighed.

Cuddy just stared at the phone down in her hand. It took a few moments, but it all suddenly hit her. The phone dropped to the ground as her tears went from a few to a steady stream down her face. Her body collapsed to the floor and she let herself go.

The minute that Rachel got up, she would have to pull herself back together. This was the only time she had to allow her emotions to show themselves.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rachel woke up and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that she was alone. "Mommy?" Rachel called out.

Not getting a response, Rachel got up and walked out of the room. She stopped in the doorway to the living room as soon as she spotted Cuddy. She saw her pacing the floor. Her eyes cold and distant. They almost made her want to turn and leave for a while until Cuddy came and got her.

Cuddy turned and noticed Rachel. "Hey. Get enough sleep?" Cuddy asked, trying to sound somewhat cheerful. Right now, Rachel did not need to be worried about House. She knew that last night she felt bad, so this was not something that she needed to hear right now.

"Yeah," Rachel replied. Perplexed, the young girl cautiously made her way further into the living room. The entire time she kept her eyes on her mother. There was something wrong, and she wanted to know what it was. "Something wrong?" she finally questioned, hoping that she would get an honest answer.

"No," Cuddy lied.

"Oh," Rachel nodded and let the lie go. She knew that she would hear the truth sooner or later.

"You want anything for breakfast?" Cuddy implored, trying to change the subject.

"Not yet," Rachel casually answered.

"Are you sure?" Cuddy asked.

Rachel nervously looked to Cuddy. "Are you sure that everything's okay?" Rachel began to beg. There were a lot of things going through her mind at the moment. It could either have something to do with Jeff or House.

Cuddy sighed. She had to tell her before Rachel had a heart attack. "I guess I'd better tell you sooner or later," Cuddy admitted. She went over to the couch and sat down. "Come here," Cuddy insisted as she pat the seat next to her.

"What is it?" Rachel asked as she went over and joined her.

Cuddy hesitated a moment. She had to find the best way to explain this to a ten year old. "When House was shot yesterday, it hit part of his heart. Last night during the surgery to try and fix it, there were some problems. The angel that it hit it at and the damage that was done just made it a hard thing to fix. They're going to have to try again a couple of times," Cuddy explained.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Rachel inquired.

"I wish I could answer that," Cuddy stated. She watched as Rachel went from nervous to sad within seconds.

"He's not gonna die is he?" Rachel reluctantly questioned.

Cuddy again took a moment to think. "There is a small chance that he will, but, I don't think," Cuddy tried to explain, but was cut off.

"But, he could?" Rachel almost demanded to know.

Cuddy was some what taken aback by Rachel's response. She had never seen her act that way before, ever. "Yes," she answered.

A stillness over took the room. Cuddy watched as Rachel sat there and went through everything that she had jsut heard. At that moment, she would have given anythign to be able to know what was going in that girl's head. The look of worry and sadness on her face mixed with the concentraction.

At that moment, she realized something. The little girl that she had lost a few days ago had grown up a bit. She was never going to be the same little girl. It didn't surprise her, any one would be a bit more mature after going through what she had. At a young age, she had learned that the world could be bad, that not everyone was nice to you.

"Can we go see him?" Rachel pleaded as she looked up to Cuddy.

"In a little bit. I don't even know if he's awake right now," Cuddy answered.

"Okay. I'll go get ready," Rachel stated as she stood up.

Cuddy just sat there and watched her go off towards her room. As soon as she was out of sight, Cuddy leaned her head back and closed her eyes.


	15. Thank You

Chapter 15: Thank You

Cuddy and Rachel walked down the hallway. They were going to see House. As far as Cuddy had heard, House was awake now.

Rachel was nervous to see him. She had no idea what to expect. Would there be a lot of wires and IVs attached to him? Would he be mad at her? Would he be out of it? There was no way for her to prepare herself. The last thing she wanted was for him to be mad at her for ruining his life.

Cuddy was happy to finally see him. She wasn't happy about seeing him in the hospital, but she needed her chance to thank him. She needed to see that he was going to be all right. There was no way of telling today, but him acting like himself would help her.

While making their way to his room, Rachel looked over and saw House's office. She wasn't sure that Cuddy had, though, since she kept a steady pace. There were people gathered in the conference room. The one that she saw clearly enough to distinct was Wilson who stood at the front of the table. Other than that, Cuddy was going to fast for her to stop and tell who else was in there.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"House did this?" Chase asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Wilson answered.

"The House that we work for?" Foreman questioned.

"Yeah," Wilson answered.

"I don't find it that hard to believe," Thirteen stated. She leaned forward on the table and smiled. "I mean, he did have the hots for Cuddy. It wasn't that hard to see."

Chase looked over ot her. "I know that, but getting shot to save her kid?"

"Has he ever referred to the kid by her name?" Taub asked.

"I don't think so," Thirteen replied.

Wilson sighed. This was like dealing with a bunch of high schoolers. "I think by now it's understood that he got shot for Rachel," Wilson pointed out. "Now, to the real problem, he will most likely need a heart transplant and someone like him will probably be put way down on the list."

The room fell silent as the four of them stared to him. No one really knew how to take what he had just said.

"Are you saying that you want us to treat him different than any other patient here?" Taub asked.

Wilson sighed. "I'm saying that I want you to try and think like House for a day. Figure out a way to either get him a new heart or fix the one he's got," Wilson informed them.

The room again, fell silent. The doctors all exchanged looks. It was something that they could do, it was just going to take a while to figure it out.

Thirteen looked up to Wilson. "You got anything for us to work off of?" she questioned.

"I don't, but you could ask Dr. Klien. He was one of the surgeons last night," Wilson replied.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Rachel and Cuddy stopped before the door. They were standing right outside of House's room. "You sure you wanna do this?" Cuddy questioned. She had noticed that the young girl looked nervous the entire drive there.

Rachel nodded. "Yes mommy," she answered.

"All right," Cuddy said. She opened the door and stepped in.

There was very little light in the room. House, as Rachel soon found out, was in fact attached to wires and IVs. Now she wasn't so sure that she wanted to be there anymore.

"House?" Cuddy asked as she approached the bed.

"Oh look, it's the mistress and the spawn here to see me. So what's new with you two?" House casually asked.

House looked over and noticed that Rachel was scared. "Hey Cuddy, you think you could go and grab me something to eat from the cafeteria? They haven't gotten around to feeding me yet," he asked, trying to get a moment alone with Rachel.

Cuddy was a bit mad that he would send her away when she had just been in there for a whole ten seconds, but she followed his gaze and found out what he was doing. "Sure," she answered looking back to him. "I'll be right back," Cuddy said to Rachel before leaving.

House watched as Rachel stood there, too scared to move. He thought he ought to be the one to start first. "So kid, was running away everything you thought it would be and more?"

Rachel stared to him for a second. "I'm sorry," she blurted out. Tears started to form in her eyes. This was a but much for her.

"Don't be. It's fine. Really. I actually found out that I have a heart and can now prove it," House stated. He studied her for a second to see if she would calm down a bit. The tears weren't pouring out of her eyes, so he took that as a good sign. Being that he was actually pretty weak and that this was more of a show than anything, he was hoping that he wouldn't have to try for much longer.

Rachel giggled a little. "Thank you for saving me," she said. The young girl was about to step forward and try to hug him, but instead, blew him a small kiss.

House rolled his eyes. "You're welcome," he replied smirking. "Just don't ever do that again," he warned.

"That's what mommy told me," Rachel said.

"I guess she wouldn't be much of a mother if she encouraged you to go out and get kidnapped again," House remarked.

Cuddy walked into the room without any food. "There was a long line down there and lunch is in a few minutes anyways," she stated.

"The kid told me that you told her to go and try running away again, and to do it right this time. Apparently getting taken doesn't count and when you fail, well," House started.

Cuddy glared to him as Rachel stifled a small laugh. "Not funny House," she said and then sat down.

It truly was weird for her to see him like this. She had spent nights in the hospital with him before, but never with him in this bad of shape. Never after he had risked his life for her.

"What, what made him shoot you?" Cuddy questioned.

"I think it had something to do with the fact that I was in his way. Seemed pretty pissed when I told Rachel to run. That and I tried to take the gun away. He wasn't too happy about that either," House explained.

Cuddy nodded. "I know it probably doesn't mean much now, but thank you. Really, you got my daughter back for me. There were times where I was about to completely lose it and you kept me from falling apart. You even went as far as getting shot for her. I don't know anyone else who would have done that for me, or for Rachel," Cuddy said.

House looked to her for a moment. It did mean a lot to him. "Just make sure to keep the doors and windows locked at night from now on," he responded.

Cuddy smiled. She knew that he was covering up. "I will," she stated. "You think you could do the both of us another favor?" Cuddy asked.

"What's that?" House replied.

"Be all right?" she requested.

House looked to her and then to Rachel who was shyly standing back against the wall. "I'll try," he said. He was about to say that it was out of his control, that she was childish for the request. Instead though, he let it go.


	16. House's Heart

**Just a small note, in this chapter I am recognizing the fact that House and Cuddy have dated before. I however, pretended that he never ran into her house with his car. **

Chapter 16: House's Heart

Cuddy remained in House's room for the rest of the day. Once she was there, she couldn't leave. He had saved her daughter, the least she could do was be there.

As she curled up in the chair by the bed, Cuddy looked over and caught sight of House sleeping. For once, he wasn't covering up for something. He looked weak, and fragile. There were no words of sarcasm and cruel comments. There was no leaving the room and lying about what was wrong. He was there, and he was in trouble.

A tear fell down her cheek, revealing her fear. Lifting her hands to wipe her face, Cuddy suddenly realized that she had been holding his hand.

Staring down at the sight of her hands cradeling his, she decided to just remain that way and let the tears fall.

"Dr. Wilson has a patient right now, he said I need to come back here for a little bit," Rachel annouced upon entering the room.

"Hey honey," Cuddy responded, as she attempted to quickly wipe the tears away before turning around.

Rachel went and sat in the chair on the other side of the room. It was obvious to her that Cuddy was upset. What she didn't understand was why she was trying to hide it. She knew most of what was going on already. The fact that there were secrets being kept from her made her more nervous than anything.

She decided that it was best to not say anything though. Something told her that nothing good would come of it.

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Chase hastened down the hall towards the ER where Thirteen stood. "What is it?" he breathed out.

Thirteen turned to him and shamefully looked up. She hated what she was about to do, but she had to do it. "There's someone in there close to dying. All I have to do is get permission from one of his relatives to take the heart," she choked out.

Chase looked down to her and then curiously looked over her shoulder and through the small window. With his failed attempt to see anything, he sighed and looked back to her. "All right, you didn't kill anyone and the odds of it being someone close to you are slim, so what's the problem?" he asked.

"He's twenty five years old. His wife just came in with their little baby," Thirteen explained. She looked up and locked her eyes on his. "He had his whole life ahead of him and I have to waltz in there and shove papers in the young girl's face like it's no big deal."

Perplexed, Chase raised his eyebrow to her. "You realize that you have done this type of thing before. Right? I mean, working for House, we've both done a few things that go against most people's code of ethics," he stated.

"I never said that I wasn't going to do it," Thirteen stated.

"Then what did you call me down here for?" he inquired.

Thirteen heard someone call out for a Mrs. Burns and turned to see a nurse talking to the young girl who was now beginning to cry. "I don't really know," Thirteen admitted. "But it looks like I had better get over there and prepare her for the question."

Chase just turned and watched her as she walked away from him. He shook off the confusion and made his way back to the elevator.

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"You know, you got the kid back, why don't you take her somewhere? Or do something with her?" House gruffly asked.

The hospital room was somewhat small, and he was growing more and more tired. Putting on an act for the two was getting closer to impossible to do any more.

Cuddy shrugged. She could see the weariness in his eyes and decided that maybe she should get out for a little bit. There was nothing that she could do to help him. Whether she liked it or not, she would have to accept the fact that all she could do was sit there and watch him.

"Rachel?" Cuddy called, looking up over the bed across the room. Getting no response, she soon learned that the little girl was sleeping. Curled up in the chair, she looked so innocent, so peaceful. She hated the thought of disturbing her.

House looked over and saw why the small smile had crept up on Cuddy's face. "Let her sleep," he insisted.

For some reason, he too had enjoyed the sight. He was allowing himself to become attached to the little girl again.

Who was he kidding? He was always a little attached to her. When she was a baby and Cuddy would bring her into work occasionally, when she was a toddler and he had to watch her a few times. When ever he 'pretended' to care by showing up to birthdays and celebrations.

After the stunt he had just pulled, there was no way to ever deny that he cared. No one goes that far for an act.

"Just give her a few minutes. Last night she couldn't go too long with out starting to cry in her sleep," Cuddy painfully stated. Her sympathetic eyes, carefully watching her daughter sleep. The pattern from last night had her instinctively ready to jump up at the very second that the tears started.

"She'll get over it," House flatly informed, his eyes still locked on Rachel.

"You're one to talk," Cuddy responded, flashing a small smile to him.

"About what?" he questioned, shifting all his attention over to Cuddy.

"Come on House, there is no way that you could be that forgetful," Cuddy remarked. She leaned on the bedrail. "The time that I spent with Lucas. The time after I broke up with you."

Cuddy stopped and briefly paused the instant that she saw the spark of interest in his eyes. She had caught his attention.

"Admit it, you've always been a tiny bit bitter towards me," Cuddy said, almost daring him.

"If I remember correctly, we straightened that out years ago," House argued.

"If anything, you learned to ignore what happened and pretended that we never existed," Cuddy disagreed.

She knew better than this. She knew very well that he wasn't feeling good and that this conversation could completely ruin everything, but he had to hear it. He had to know that every stupid stunt he pulled, getting married to keep someone in the country, ignoring her, going out of his way to show he didn't care, hurt her. Each little thing he would do to get back at her made her heart ache.

Over the past few years, the two had been able to slowly merge back to just being friends, well the closest you could get to that with House anyways. Cuddy was risking all of that, possibly throwing all of that away now.

Adverting his eyes, House sighed. It bothered him to think that after what he had done, that she thought he still didn't care. In all honesty, he could never bring himself to pretend that they had never dated. There was no way that his mind could ever let him.

"What about you? Constantly asking me what was going on?" he asked, getting ready to tell her what he had intended to tell her right after she had broke up with him. To tell her how stupid, thoughtless and naive she must have to think that he couldn't see through her fake little act to get him to believe that she cared. To tell her that if she cared so damn much that she would have given him another chance.

"What about it?" she questioned, bracing herself for his cutting remark.

House looked to her. He was about to answer, to tear her down, to hurt her, but he couldn't do it.

There had been times that they would pass each other that he would try to trip her with his cane. There were times where he would ruin a date that she was on. All the immature pranks from stink bombs in her office to sending in strippers during meetings and he couldn't bring himself to tell her what he had often wanted to say.

He had wanted to call her a bitch. To tell her to go fuck herself. That he didn't need her, that all she was was a demanding, needy bitch that he could never satisfy, and that she ruined his life.

"It just got annoying after a while," he plainly answered.

Cuddy curiously watched him for a moment. His answers were never that simple and painless. There had to be more to it. "That's it?" she whispered.

"That's it," he assured her.

"You know, I might have broken up with you, but I never stopped caring about you," Cuddy admitted.

They sat there in silence as they stared into each other's eyes. It was as if they were both testing each other, seeing if they had each meant what they had said. Feelings were being exchanged without any words.

Cuddy had been so taken in, so absorbed by House, that she hadn't realized that anyone had walked into the room.

"Cuddy?"

Cuddy jumped as she wheeled around. "Wilson," she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. "What do you need?" she asked, gaining her composure.

"There's a couple of surgeons down in your office. It's urgent," Wilson explained.

Sighing, Cuddy stood up. Her moment had been interrupted, and possibly ruined. "All right," she responded. She quickly and quietly thanked him right before leaving.

Wilson could tell that the two were in the middle of something, and hated intruding, but it was important. This was also something that he thought she would enjoy.

After a moment's hesitation, Wilson turned and left the room.

House faced forward and leaned his head back. There was no way for him to explain what had just happened between him and Cuddy.

Closing his eyes, he tried to block out everything. To just forget everything. The mere idea of getting back together with her excited him. It also scared him. He knew from what happened last time, that things most likely wouldn't work out between them.

Her last sentence, the last two minutes in the room together, they were all a miserable tease to him. He did blame her, but he also blamed himself. No, was not something that he could easily say at times like that.

A wimpering noise came and broke the silence. House's eyes popped open, and was somewhat relieved when he had seen Rachel. With everything racing through his mind at the moment, he had forgotten that she was there with him. However, he could tell that she was having a nightmare and figured that he should go ahead and wake her.

"Rachel!" he called out. No response. Reaching over, he grabbed his cane that was propped up against the wall beside the bed and used it to gently poke her. "Rachel!" he tried again, this time successful.

"What?" Rachel cried out upon waking up. Desperately wiping away the tears, she steadied her gaze on House.

It took a little while, but she eventually realized where she was and calmed herself down. "Thank you," she meakly said.

"Just don't have a panic attack while you're here," House mumbled in response.

Rachel watched him to make sure that it was okay for her to ask what she had wanted. This was something that she felt she couldn't do in front of her mother. "May I ask you a question?" she asked.

"I think you just did," House informed her as he turned to face her.

"Yeah, well. I was wondering, if you live, would you consider being my father?" Rachel requested.

House's face softened. That was not something that he had ever expected to hear from anyone. There was a bit of a delay of his response from the surpise. "Trust me kid, you don't want me as a dad," he flatly stated.

"But I do," Rachel stubbornly rebuttled.

"Just because I used to let you do whatever you wanted when mommy wasn't in the room doesn't mean that I'm a good person to have around," he explained.

"You were a good person to have when I was taken," Rachel insisted.

"Fine kid, I'll be your dad," he sighed out in defeat.

Rachel just sat there and smiled. She had finally found what she had been looking for the entire time. Someone to love her, someone to care for her. A father figure to her. Deep down, she knew that House wasn't the best role model there was and that he would probably be mean to her, but at the same time, she knew that he did care. He had proved that to her.

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"So you think that you have found a heart for House?" Cuddy asked as she went over the papers.

Thirteen stood before Cuddy's desk with the signed papers and everything that she needed to take the heart out of one man and put it in the other.

"And you double checked everything? Blood type?" Cuddy wanted to make sure that everything would go okay. There were always risks involved with this sort of thing, so why make them higher then they need to be?

"The only thing left that I need is your approval," Thirteen stated. She smiled upon seeing the happiness in Cuddy's face.

There was a chance. There was a chance that everything was going to be okay now. There was no wondering as to whether or not House would be able to get what he needed, a heart and now he was able to get one.

Cuddy, without thinking about it, took a pen and signed the papers. To her, there was nothing to think about. House was being saved, why would she stop and think about that?

"Thank you," Thirteen said as she grabbed the forms and left.

Cuddy sat there, alone in her office. A huge smile upon her face as she stared out into the distance.


	17. Second Chances

Chapter 17: A Second Chance

Cuddy and Rachel sat out in the waiting room. There was no talking between the two, Cuddy was too disracted by the thoughts and worries running through her mind for her to be able to hold any sort of conversation.

Each time a nurse stepped out into the room, they both quickly looked up. Each time it was for another family though, another group awaiting to hear whether or not the person they knew would have a future. With each group before their turn, Cuddy grew more and more nervous.

Rachel wanted badly to ask her mom what she thought the out come would be. She didn't want to hear her tell her anything bad though, she needed to hear that it was going to be okay. Even if Cuddy truely thought negatively, she wanted her to lie. Even if the hope only lasted hours, she wanted to be happy for those last couple of hours.

"Dr. Cuddy?"

Cuddy quickly looked up, hoping to hear about House. "Yes?" she quickly asked, anxious to hear what the nurse had to say.

"There's a policeman down in your office. He said it's important," she said.

Cuddy's face dropped. "All right," she said. she thanked the nurse and then looked over to Rachel. "You'd better come with me," she flatly stated.

Rachel obeyed her mother and got up to follow her down to her office.

Once they got there, they both silently entered the room.

"Dr. Cuddy?" the policeman asked.

"Yes officer," Cuddy replied.

"And this is Rachel?" he motioned to the little girl.

"That would be correct," Cuddy responded.

The policeman pulled out a pad of paper from his pocket and looked it over. "If you both wouldn't mind, I have a couple questions to ask Rachel here," he stated.

"Of course," Cuddy said. All she wanted to do was get this over with and get back to the waiting room. This was something that she was expecting to happen, but not now. Not when she felt that she had to be somewhere else. Not when she would be waiting to see whether or not someone close to her was going to live.

The officer waited until the two were seated on the couch and then pulled out a picture. "Now, Rachel, when you were kidnapped, how many people were involved?"

"Just one," she shyly answered. Her main motive at the moment was to keep the answers as short as possible. The less that she had to talk about this, the better.

"And that was the man who shot Gregory House?" he asked, clarifying the facts he had recieved.

"Yes sir, Dr. House was there trying to save me," Rachel responded. Her eyes followed the officer's hand as he wrote something down on the pad of paper.

Hesitently, the man sighed and looked over to Rachel. There was a few other questions that he had to ask her, questions that he hated to ask. Sitting down, he sympathetically looked to her. "Now Rachel, I'm going to have to ask you a few more questions, and I need you to answer them honestly. Okay?"

Rachel shuddered at that last statement. If it was going to get this over with sooner though, she would cooperate. "I promise," she whispered.

The man nodded. "All right. First, did the man ever threaten you in any way? Telling you that if you didn't do certain things that he would hurt or kill you?" he questioned, wanting to start with a more easy one.

Rachel simply shook her head.

"Okay. Now, did the man ever mentally abuse you? Such as lying to you or insulting you in ways that would make him seem dominate or in control of you?"

Rachel nodded.

"Could you tell me specifically what he said?" he asked.

"He told me that there was nothing I could do. That I had to stay there no matter what," Rachel said, summing everything up.

"Hmm," the officer said as he wrote down a few notes. He then looked back up and thought for a moment. "Now," he cautiously started, "did the man ever touch you? Or physically hurt you in any way?"

Cuddy's eyes wandered down to Rachel. She herself had yet to hear the answer.

Rachel hesitated before slowly nodding. Cuddy quickly turned to her, curious as to what had happened.

"He hit me the first night, I was crying while people were walking past and he was sure that they could hear me. That was the only time though," Rachel explained.

Cuddy was some what relieved. It was bad, but she was glad that that was all that happened. In her mind, there could have been worse. She could have been all bruised up, missing teeth, having to get deep gashes stitched up. Even worse then that, she could have been molested or raped.

"That's all he has done? You're not holding anything else back?" the officer asked, trying to make sure that he had the information that he needed to get.

Rachel simply nodded. "Yes, that's all," she answered.

"All right, that's all I needed," he said before standing.

"And he can be put away?" Cuddy asked. Right now, that was all that she was worried about. She didn't care what he was convicted of, or what court he was tried in or what jail he was in, just as long as he was behind bars and away from Rachel.

"We caught him with the gun in his hand. That's usually a pretty good case against someone," he answered.

Cuddy nodded. "Thank you officer," she said and then stood up and extended her hand.

He shook her hand and then left the room.

"That's it?" Rachel questioned. Some how, knowing that Jeff was soon to be permanently gone, made her feel a lot better about everything.

Cuddy looked back sighed. She crossed arms. "Should be," she responded.

"Good," Rachel responded, starting to stare off.

"How about we get back upstairs?" Cuddy asked, extending her hand.

Rachel took her hand and stood up. "Okay," she replied.

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Cuddy sat there in the waiting room. She had no idea as to how much time had passed. There was very little noise. Most people there usually sat staring off into space or they quietly paced back and forth. She was part of the group that sat staring.

Rachel sat curled up on her lap sleeping. Her fingers lightly brushed through her daughter's hair.

The only thing that kept her stable at the moment was the fact that she knew Rachel needed her. If she weren't there right now, she would be a nervous wreck. Well, she already was, but she wouldn't be so careful about keeping it together.

"Dr. Cuddy?"

Cuddy snapped out of her dream type trance and turned to the nurse. "Yes?" she nervously asked.

The nurse walked over and stood before her. "You're here waiting for Dr. House?" she asked, to make sure.

"Yes," Cuddy answered. Her nerves were now being tested. For some reason, she didn't like the look that she was receiving from the lady. It seemed like she was getting ready to tell her something bad.

"Well," she started. "The transplant went successful. He is right now going to be transfered to the ICU so that we can watch him closely for the next couple of days and make sure that there are no complications," she announced.

Cuddy smiled. "Thank you," she breathed out in relief. She hadn't noticed, but she had been holding her breath.

There were no words to describe how happy she was at the moment. Her favorite man, her best friend, was saved. She had a chance to patch up their relationship. She had a chance to see him again.

Continuing to smile, she looked down and stroked the little girl's hair. "Looks like everything turned out all right," she softly whispered, allowing her to remain sleeping.


	18. More Than Meets the Eyes

Chapter 18: More Than Meets the Eye

House opened his eyes and saw Cuddy sitting at his bedside. It took him a minute to come to realize what was going on, but he eventually grasped onto reality. "I kicked death's ass. Twice," he gruffly commented.

Cuddy sighed. "Congratulations," she said, softly smiling. At this moment, she was just happy to have him there, alive. "You know how long you've been a sleep?" she questioned.

"Well," House thought back to when he had first woke up after the surgery. "No clue," he admitted.

"About twenty four hours," Cuddy answered.

House mumbled something incoherent as he turned his head to look up at the ceiling. "So, what all did I miss in happy land while I was out?" he asked.

"Well, for starters, Rachel told me about an interesting agreement you made with her. Something about being her daddy," Cuddy explained.

House nodded, he knew what she was talking about, and now he would have to live up to it. The fact that he would spend time with Rachel wasn't the part that he was dreading, it was the what ifs. What if he failed? What if she grew to hate him? What if he and Cuddy got back together?

That was something else to think about. The conversation that the two had. Washed up feelings of bitterness and longing brought back along with awkward, silent moments of wondering what they could've had leaving them with pain and regret.

The feelings were still there. Nothing had changed between the two. That was the lie that they had both been telling themselve up until now.

Cuddy could see the discomfort in his eyes. A hurt that went deeper than the current outer pains that he could have been feeling from the surgery. This was a hurt that lingered in him everytime he had spotted her with another man. A hurt that jabbed at his open wounds when Cuddy would exclude him from important events. "I'm glad that you're all right," she confessed. It was hardly anything special, but with all the thoughts rushing through her head, it was hard to think of anything better to say.

"So am I," House plainly stated. His eyes were distant. It was right then that something had snapped in him. He could never have her. Cuddy was always going to need something that he could not provide for her. Whether it be his presence in rough times or a father figure for Rachel, he would always be inadequette. He would never be enough for her.

Cuddy could see that he was going to ignore her. Nothing new there. It was her fault for bringing it up and now she had to sit there and watch him act like a little kid. The only problem with that though was that she knew deep down, she was wrong to do it. She broke up with him for the wrong reasons and then shoved it in his face right after he had saved her daughter. Wonderful, she thought. Now what was there left to do?

"I think I'm going to go ahead and take Rachel home. She needs some sleep and I think I'm kind of worn out too," she said.

"Yeah, sitting in the waiting room can really drain a person's energy," House remarked. He turned to her and watched as she stood up and silently left the room. "Damn it," he quietly cursed to himself.

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Six months had passed since House had survived his heart transplant. Six months had passed since he and Cuddy talked about how they had felt after their break up. Six months.

House sat at his piano, playing random chords that some how fit beautifully together. His signature glass of bourbon was sitting right there on top of the piano. Each time he stopped to take a break, he would take a sip and allow his thoughts to wander.

Through the window, he could see the two approaching the porch. It was time. He stood up and downed the rest of his drink. He had to make sure that this place met the bare minimal of Cuddy's standards for what she needed to leave a young child there.

At his own pace, he limped into the kitchen and put the bottle away. There was a knock at the door, telling him that he needed to hurry up. "Don't rush the cripple!" he called back over his shoulder towards the door.

Cuddy knew very well what he was doing inside. It was bad, but she didn't care. At least he was hiding his booze and pills from Rachel. At least he was trying. This was one of those things that she only came to realize after she broke up with him. It was a bittersweet feeling really, knowing that for only certain select people he would change, but it hurt her to know that she was one of those people and she left him.

Sighing, she looked down to an impatient Rachel. "Calm down, he'll be here in a minute," she stated.

Rachel looked up to Cuddy and nodded. "I know," she breathed out.

House finally answered the door. "You're coming back at nine right?" House asked.

Cuddy nodded. "Yes, and by now I'm pretty sure that you know how to reach me," Cuddy said.

Rachel took this as her cue to go inside. This was not the first time that she had been dropped off at House's place, and this certainly was not the first exchange of words that she had witnessed between the two. In all honesty, it made her uncomfortable. The way she saw it, they might as well just go ahead and fight and get it over with. She might only be a kid, but she sure was not stupid enough to think that everything was okay between the two.

House nodded. There was some sort of awkwardness between the two. It was as if the conversation that they had before his operation had reopened old wounds. In order to heal again, they felt that they had to be careful, act as if the other were as fragile as a china doll, if not even more.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle the kid for a few hours," he assured her.

Cuddy picked up on his annoyance and took the hint. "Bye," she said and then turned to leave.

House watched her. He did nothing to stop, nothing to get her attention. It was clear to him that she wanted nothing more than what they currently had. There was no need to risk everything again.

Cuddy wanted nothing more than to be able to keep her composure infront of this man. She knew that he was watching her right now. This was not the time to cry. If she were to let him know that she was upset about all of this, she would be the vulnerable one. She already was, but she didn't want him to realize that.

House watched Cuddy get into her car and drive away before completely closing the door and heading into the living room. He saw Rachel sitting at the paino as she stared with amazement to the keys before her.

"You know how to play?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head and then looked over to House. "Teach me?" she requested.

House sighed. He really didn't want anyone else touching that piano. He could let this go though. Rachel had become an exception to a lot of his rules lately. So far, she was allowed to watch what she wanted on his television, play his paino and sleep in his bed while he slept on the couch.

"Why not?" he gruffly asked. He set his cane against the couch and sat down next to the little girl on the bench. "Here's the E note," House instructed as he laid his finger down on the key.

Rachel waited until he moved his hand away before pressing it and playing the note.

House just smirked to her and then continued with the set of notes until moving on to the next E note and starting over.

It amused him. Whenever he would ask her to play back a set of notes, she could easily do it. She was truly watching, and taking in every move that he made. This little girl looked up to him. He didn't understand why he would ever be chosen as a role model, but he was.

"You wanna take a break?" he questioned.

"Okay," Rachel replied.

He stood up and watched as she walked over to his desk and grabbed the coloring books and crayons that she left over there. That was how often Cuddy had been leaving Rachel with him, she was starting to just keep some of her things there. Too bad it was all Rachel's and nothing of Cuddy's.

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Cuddy sat in her car, down the street from House's apartment. Her meeting had ended twenty minutes ago, and all she could think about was having to face him again.

Each time got harder and harder. It was was harder to keep facing him, to keep taking the subtle hints that he resented her, to keep trying to hide everything.

As much as she liked the fact that Rachel had a father figure in her life, she wished she wouldn't have to see House so often. It was complicated, she still liked House, so she was glad that Rachel had chosen House, but she hated having to see him all the time. They were being forced to act like they were friends again. The idea of dating was constantly teasing them.

Cuddy leaned her head back as she let out a heavy sigh. She had to say something. She had to tell him. No backing out, just go up to him and tell him that she screwed up, that she still had feelings. It was a risky choice, but she had to do it. She couldn't go on like this much longer.

"All right, brace yourself," she said to herself as she started the car.


	19. You Could be Happy part 1

Chapter 19: You Could be Happy (part 1)

Cuddy stopped the car in front of the apartment. This was no time for her to be a coward, she sat there and took a deep breath before getting out. Whether it be for better or for worse, tonight was going to completely change what the two had.

Before knocking on the door, she briefly closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. The sooner she did this, the better. Once the words were out of her mouth, there was no turning back. That was how she needed it to be, she needed to have to just simply face him rather than have an easy way out.

House and Rachel were sitting in the kitchen where he had allowed her to help him bake a cake. This was one of those things that he would never do on his own, but she wanted to and he figured that there was no harm in it.

"All right kid, go clean yourself up," he instructed upon hearing the knock at the door. House took the hand towel off the counter and removed the flour from his hands and then quickly made sure that his clothes showed no evidence of the night's events. Baking a cake wasn't a bad thing, it was the two pieces that he had allowed Rachel to have that he didn't want Cuddy to find out about.

"Okay," Rachel replied as she got up and raced to the bathroom to clean herself.

House sighed as he watched her and then started towards the door.

Cuddy stood outside waiting for what felt like the longest time. She was so ready to just blurt out the words "I love you" as soon as he opened the door. That wasn't the best idea, but by the way he was making her wait, that was almost what she was going to have to do in order to be able to say anything to him.

"The kid'll be here in a minute," House gruffly stated as he opened the door.

Finally, Cuddy thought. "Actually, House, can I talk to you a moment?" she requested.

House raised his eyebrow as he looked her over for a moment. The most he could come up with was that she had smelled the cake and wanted to ask him what was going on, but her face was much too serious for that. There was something that made him uncomfortable. "Isn't that what we're doing?" he casually asked.

Cuddy sighed. "Please," she nearly begged.

"Fine," House said in defeat. He went into the living room and waited for her to follow. "What did you want to talk about?" he questioned as he sat down on the couch.

Cuddy was barely in the room before he could ask her, she could tell he was going to be impatient with her right from the start. "It's about us," she started as she slowly approached him.

House just looked up to her. His blue eyes nearly piercing through her. The next thing he was waiting to hear was that she was going to have to stop bringing Rachel by. That they could not keep seeing each other like this.

Cuddy stood there in the thick silence just waiting for him to respond. She never got one, all she got was the questioning stare. "I think I made a mistake," she admitted.

House's face softened. He could see the tears forming in her eyes and started to wonder what was coming next. This was a mistake, letting Rachel get close to him, seeing him all the time outside of work, it was all something that should have been avoided. "Somehow it's always a mistake with you when I'm involved," he painfully shot back.

"That's not what I meant," she argued.

"Then what is it?" House asked, trying to keep himself calm.

"When I thought I was doing the right thing by breaking up with you!" Cuddy answered. Now, there was no going back, it was out in the open. "I needed you, and you showed up as high as could be! Yeah, you did hurt me," she confessed. She allowed the room to fall silent for a moment as she gathered her composure. "But you did try, I never realized how much you actually did for me until it was too late," she stated as she went and sat down on the piano bench. "Then you go out and rescue Rachel."

House leaned forward. "So, you were wrong?" he asked, more to himself. "You rip my heart out and then wait until years later to say anything," he venomously stated. His stare caught her eyes. "And now you tell me that you made a mistake," he said. It was meant to be more of a question, but he had already known the answer.

"Yes, I was wrong," Cuddy choked out.

"So what?" House asked.

Cuddy quickly looked up. "I don't know," she weakly replied. At this moment, she was afraid to say anything at all. There was too much going on right now.

House sighed as he stood up. "Yes you do," he argued. "You were waiting for me to just jump for joy and take you back," he stated as he limped over to stand beside the piano. Looking down to Cuddy, he could see how nervous she was. He was giving her a chance though, a chance to tell him that she wanted a second chance.

Cuddy saw her cue and thought about it. "Maybe I was," she hoarsely responded. "Not just like that, but I did want something," she informed him.

"Yeah, well, maybe I wanted something too at one point, but you can't always get what you want now can you?" he asked as he turned away and started out of the room.

Cuddy just sat there and watched him leave. Now, she knew what he had felt like the night she left him. She truly believed that there was nothing that she could say or do to get him to come back. Maybe there was, but, was it worth it? Was it worth it to be in a relationship that would be one sided? She knew better this time than to try and change him, but would he be able to trust her again? Not be paranoid about every move wondering if she would break his heart over it?

What they had originally had was gone. She knew that before she decided to tell him. The trust that they had, the devotion, it would not nearly be at the same level that it had been the first time around. It would be less, but somehow, she knew that if they could make it work, that they could learn from the mistakes they made. There was only one flaw to this, they both had to work together, and at the moment, she couldn't see him putting much effort into it this time.

Rachel sat in the bathroom. She had heard everything that both Cuddy and House had said to each other, and she hated it. She wanted them to get along, she wanted to be able to be in the same room with both of them at the same time and not feel awkward.

Instead of leaving the room and going to tell her mom that she was ready to go, she stayed in there and let the stillness remain for a few moments. There was too much tension right now. If her mom wanted to leave that bad, she could come and get her.

House went and sat down in the kitchen. He did want a second chance with Cuddy, he wanted it more than anything. The only thing keeping him from doing so was that he knew she would hurt him again. The sacrifices he made and how he went out of his way for her and still got hurt, he couldn't do it again. It also felt as if he were playing some childish game. He was getting back at her, teaching her a lesson, showing her how he felt.

It wasn't right, but that was what he wanted. He wanted Cuddy to see what she had done to him. Seeing her hurt was not something that pleasured him, but getting back her for pain she caused was different.


	20. You Could be Happy part 2

Chapter 20: You Could be Happy (part 2)

Cuddy sat in the living room for only a few minutes. She had been wondering where Rachel was and was hoping that she would hurry up so that they could get going. The thought of getting up and walking around to look for her seemed too awkward at the moment, the last thing she wanted to do was to run into House.

That made it official, she had made things worse between them. Mentally, she kicked herself for not being able to keep her mouth shut. When House had stated that he was usually the mistake, he was wrong, more wrong than he could ever be, because right now she knew that the mistakes were all her. She was the one who demanded so much of him, she was the one who broke his heart, and she was the one who wanted to explore past wounds.

The tears began to fall. Her head lowered as she tried to hide, from what she didn't k now yet, but she felt that she should hide.

House sat in the kitchen, his head in his hands on the table. He knew that she was still there, he hadn't heard the door yet. He also knew that Rachel was probably afraid to come out after hearing them, he remembered how it was when he was a kid and he would hear his parents yell at each other.

Slowly, he raised his head. He had just inadvertently called Rachel his daughter. It didn't matter though, not now.

Before it got too late, he had to go tell Cuddy to get Rachel. He would just go get Rachel, but wanted Cuddy to just grab her and leave.

He forced himself up and grabbed his cane. Making his way down the hallway, he thought back to the night that Cuddy had shown up at his apartment, the night that she had broken up with him. After the dinners, the nights together, childish pranks, they all meant nothing. It was amazing how one woman could take everything he had and rip it up right in his face, and all within one sentence.

"Hey Cuddles!" he called out as he stood in the entrance to the living room.

Cuddy looked up with a tear stricken face. "Yeah?" she asked, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. "What is it?"

House was about to tell her to go get Rachel from the bathroom, but he froze. The memory of their first night as a couple came back to him, how happy he was. She was the only woman to ever be able to handle him. She was the only one who could stop him dead in his tracks. "Why did you want to give me another chance?" he wryly questioned.

Cuddy just curiously looked to him. His mood from when he had left the room to now had completely changed. "What is this? Some sick game you planned out?" she sneered.

"Yes, I often plot out my attacks in five minutes or less," House retorted.

Cuddy stood up and shook her head. "You're an ass, you know that?" she asked before walking past him and leaving the room. "Rachel?" she started calling out.

House turned and smugly smiled to her. "Trust me, you got a better ass than I do," he said.

Cuddy quickly wheeled around to him. "What the hell are you trying to do to me?" she cried out in frustration. "You tell me that you couldn't date me again, and leave the room angry and then come back and start acting like a twelve year old boy. What the hell is this House?" she begged. She felt as if he were going out of his way to play around with her feelings.

House stood there a minute and watched her. There was no question about it, she was mad at him. He could tell that she wanted him though. He may be an egotistical man, but he could tell when someone wanted him. The corner of his mouth went up in a half grin, an evil half grin that seemed to suggest a lot to Cuddy.

"House?" she questioned. She could see it on his face, he was thinking about her.

House stood there. They both wanted to get back together, but neither of them were able to come out and say it. Instead of waiting though, House dropped his cane and then grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss.

Cuddy would have been lying to herself if she believed that she was taken by surprise. The look in his eyes, the smile, they were all the signs that she used to love to see. They were what she would look for to see whether or not he was happy with what he saw.

What surprised her was that she didn't fight back. She just allowed him to grab her and kiss her. Now, she deeply enjoyed it. Her favorite taste, her favorite feeling, it was all coming back. She wrapped her arms around him and tightly held on, not wanting to ever let go.

House let go of her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her body. He let one hand slip down to her butt.

Cuddy wanted to laugh, but kept it to herself to continue kissing.

Rachel noted the silence and poked her head out of the bathroom. Looking down the hall, she smiled at the sight of the two kissing.

Softly, she closed the door and stood outside as she kept her eyes on the two. They were getting along.

The two slowly pulled apart, their eyes glued on each other. "I missed that," House softly breathed out.

Cuddy nodded in agreement. "What do you think?" she asked. Right now, she wanted to know whether that was just a kiss, or if it was supposed to mean something.

"I think you made me a little too happy," House replied.

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "I promise you, things will be different this time," she said.

House nodded. "And I promise I'll tell you before I take my pills," he said.

Cuddy was about to say something to that, but there was no reason. "All right," she responded in defeat. This man truly was just like dating a ten year old. She went in and hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Thank you," House corrected her.

Cuddy looked over and saw Rachel standing outside the bathroom door. "We have an audience," Cuddy stated as she pulled back.

House turned and saw Rachel standing there. "Hey kid, you mind sharing your mom?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head. At this moment, she was just happy that the two were getting along. She had gotten the daddy that she had been wanting. This was what she truly wanted, from the moment that she had asked Cuddy a while back for her school report to now. She didn't necessarily like seeing the two kiss, but the fact that they could both be with her, and that she could see him a lot more often made her happy.

"Good, cus I don't play nice and I didn't want to have to steal her away from you," House stated.

Rachel just laughed.

"Why don't you go grab your things Rachel? It's getting late," Cuddy requested.

"Okay mommy," Rachel said and then went to retrieve her bag.

Cuddy stood there and sighed. "I'll call you tonight, all right?" she questioned.

House smiled. "Naked?" he asked. "No," he said, "we need webcams to do that."

Cuddy just smiled. No use arguing, or getting offended. She did choose to date this man for a reason.

"I'm ready," Rachel announced, standing by the door.

"Bye," Cuddy said and then quickly kissed House.

"See ya," he replied.

Right before walking out the door, Rachel turned back to House. "Maybe my mommy was trying to tell you something when she lied to me about you being my father," she suggested.

Cuddy stared wide eyed down at Rachel and shook her head to House who shrugged. "Even the kid knew you wanted me," he stated. Cuddy playfully glared to him.

House stood there and watched as the two left the apartment. He had gotten something that he had wanted for a long time now, Cuddy. He got her back.

They had all three gotten what they had wanted. House got Cuddy. Cuddy got her daughter back and a second chance with House and Rachel got a dad.

The End


End file.
